


my boyfriend’s a ghoul

by hyuckwei



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Fluff, Ghouls, Inspired by Tokyo Ghoul, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, PLEASE take the cannibalism tag into consideration before reading thank you, because ghouls, for all my weeb nctzens out there, hyucks a human, implied jaeyong - Freeform, mark is a ghoul, mentions of cannibalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-07-29 13:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 36,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16265423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyuckwei/pseuds/hyuckwei
Summary: jaemin always told donghyuck his strange interest in ghouls would get him killed one day. but he never told him he’d get a cute, awkward boyfriend out of it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> you might not have to watch tokyo ghoul to know what this fic is abt or to be able to read it i will explain the terms used throughout the story like what a ghoul is (it will be explained first lmao) hopefully my explaining is bearable and readable and ppl will understand .. heres the tokyo ghoul au nobody asked for
> 
> disclaimer: originally an unfinished hyungwonho fic on aff but revamped into markhyuck

 

 

 How Donghyuck met his ghoul boyfriend, Mark, was during odd and surprisingly common circumstances in his city. You know, a ghoul about to eat and tear him apart and all. Until mister Casanova had saved Donghyuck. Can't say he regretted how they met though.

 

  _Ghouls_. Ghoulsare a carnivorous and cannibalistic species that can only feast on humans and other ghouls. They're _almost_ similar to humans. They normally have the same physical appearance and intelligence as a human, blending in easily. But their diet, mentality, and inner biology are completely different. Ghouls are super strong, have better senses than humans and can jump several meters high. They wear masks sometimes to hide their identities while hunting. Due to their dangerous status as predators of humans, ghouls are prosecuted by a special organization that hunt ghouls down called the CCG. 

 

 Unfortunately, Donghyuck had to encounter a ghoul on a dark Wednesday night, the bright stars up high in the black sky and only a few dim street lamps showing Donghyuck the way home to his dingy apartment. He had just finished his shift at the convenience store like 6 blocks away from his home. He always had a nightshift on Wednesdays. Donghyuck hated Wednesdays, he'd have to stay longer at work where his co-worker Chenle endlessly messed around and stole coffee from the machines, always twitching after having a few cups. Donghyuck suspected he was a ghoul because of the amount of coffee he drank but Chenle’s just an insomniac that wasn’t allowed to drink coffee but he did anyways. 

 

 Donghyuck knew that walking in the dark while not a single soul was around at 10 pm was dangerous but did he really give a shit? No. He knows theres not many ghouls around the parts he's in. It doesn’t mean the ones hanging around weren’t dangerous but Donghyuck was willing to take risks.

 

 To be honest, Donghyuck was truly fascinated by ghouls. He studied on them and read books about them, though he had never encountered one. Donghyuck wasn’t naive. He knew ghouls were very dangerous but he knows not all of them are. When they aren't hungry. 

 

 He suspected someone in his class named Jeno was a ghoul like his co-worker (even though he had no proof whatsoever besides the coffee thing) but he brushes it off as the kid probably really likes raw meat and doesn't mind getting diseases. Maybe he should ask one day, or maybe he'd get ripped to shreds if he asked.. 

 

 Donghyuck was snapped out of his train of thought when he saw something out of the corner in his eye _zip_ past him. He knew it wasn’t a damn puppy or a human telling by the speed. He hoped it was a dragonfly. The orange haired boy stood stiff for a second, he considered running but that would most likely make the situation worse and the ghoul would immediately attack him. If this was some normal, hungry ghoul, he’d be careful with his prey if they seemed to be unsuspecting like Donghyuck was pretending to be.

 

 Donghyuck slowly started walking, ignoring the loud footsteps behind him. He started getting a little frightened and quickened his pace, looking down at the ground as he did so. His shoes seemed much more interesting to look at than the dim neighborhood. Much to his luck, the ghoul quickened his pace behind him. For a ghoul hunting he wasn’t very subtle. 

 

 "Oh _fuck_ me.." Donghyuck muttered, he looked up and saw he cornered himself in a damn alleyway. It smelled horrid, trash bags thrown around and complied on top of each other. Graffiti was on the wall, cursing out the CCG or a big ‘ _GHOULS SUCK_ ’ here and there. He cursed to himself, "Good job Hyuck, you're gonna be a ghoul's next bowl of hypothetical ramen. I'll be his bowl of.. Raw man.." 

 

 Donghyuck would've chuckled at his own terrible joke if it wasn't for the fucking ghoul behind him about to devour him. Donghyuck took a deep breath and turned around to face a mask-less ghoul. _Oh_ he wasn't afraid to be recognized as a threat to human society.

 

 The ghoul grinned, his eyes were as terrifying as all ghouls have them when they were hungry like Donghyuck has read up on. His irises were red, surrounded by pitch black scleras. His _Kakugan_. They were more horrifying in real life than the pictures. A ghoul’s regular human looking eyes only switched to Kakugan when he was hungry or when he was using his.. 

 

Suddenlythe sound of glass breaking ripped through the air, large red and purple, almost looking like feathered wings, appeared from the ghoul's trapezius on his back. It was a beautifully terrifying sight. Shades of purple pulsing up from the bottom of the red sharp, winged organs. 

 

_Kagune,_ a [ghoul](http://tokyoghoul.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul)'s predatory organ that functioned as their weapon and claws. It is usually as red as blood with some purple shades here and there, they are apparently flexible like the flow of water, but firm and sturdy. Not all kagune are the same, some vary design depending on the ghoul. 

 

_'It seems this man has an **ukaku** kagune, they're spread out like feathers and are released from the shoulder area, they specializes in high speed attacks.'_

 Donghyuck analyzed the ghoul to himself as he studied up and down the first ghoul he had ever encountered. He was excited, of course, even if he was about to be his dinner- _Oh yeah_. Donghyuck was so caught up in his informative thoughts that he didn't notice the ghoul approaching closer. He was practically drooling at this point at the sight of Donghyuck’s exposed skin (he shouldn’t have worn a tank top). 

 

 "Wait don't eat me I'm only 19!" Donghyuck quickly yelled at the ghoul who simply scoffed, 

 

 "Does it look like I care? I'm hungry and I haven't eaten in days because of stupid ghoul investigators being _everywhere_. There's no one around. Now's my chance to have a fix before they come back. You shouldn’t have dyed your hair that bright color if you didn’t wanna get noticed by us.”

 

  _Curse his orange hair._

 

 Suddenly the man's kagune soon started shooting shards of purple glass towards Donghyuck and the human’s eyes widened, he quickly dodged the attack, only leaving a few cuts from the shards. He then tried to miss the last shard heading towards him but he had tripped and the shard pierced his shoulder roughly. He knew he should’ve participated more in PE back in high school. He was already tired just from dodging life-threatening shards. This was a like another bad game of dodgeball. 

 

 He hissed in pain but he was so fascinated by how the ghouls fought he couldn't help but stare as the man huffed tiredly.

 

  _Oh_! Donghyuck knew this. _Ghouls with Ukaku kagune have low stamina._

 Which meant Donghyuck had a small chance of escaping while the ghoul caught his breath. He might have taken too long staring at the tired ghoul, though.

 

 Donghyuck stood up slowly, holding onto his injured arm and he tried to run past but the ghoul quickly regained his stamina and grabbed the bright haired boy by the arm. The human started yelling for help as the ghoul brought his lips to Donghyuck’s arm. He had _too_ much to live for. 

 

  _Not really_ but he just didn't want to die today. He really just wanted to get home and play some Fortnite before passing out until his next shift. He continued to scream with his eyes closed when he felt the ghoul's teeth starting to press against the soft flesh. It was already too late, he thought dramatically, he was gonna die young and Chenle would get his pay raise instead of him.  

 

 The feeling of rough teeth against skin disappeared and he had heard grunting, Donghyuck opened his eyes to another ghoul grabbing the same ghoul who had tried to eat him and threw punches at him. 

 

  _'A ghoul is helping me?'_ Donghyuck gasped as he leaned against the wall, watching the raven haired ghoul grab the other's throat with his own kagune, a pretty red **Rinkaku** , a type of kagune that appeared like scaled tentacles coming out from the ghoul's back around the back of his waist. 

 

 Donghyuck thought the ghoul's kakugan really suited him, even if he was wearing a baggy grey sweatshirt and adidas shorts with sandals. 

 

 He was sort of cute from what Donghyuck could tell.

 

 Once the ‘nice’ ghoul was finished with the other he tossed him to the side, against a wall. Donghyuck winced. He could hear bones cracking, but ghouls can recover and regenerate pretty fast. So it was no problem to the groaning ghoul passed out across from him. He wasn’t dead.

 

 The dark-haired ghoul turned to look at Donghyuck after retreating his kagune, wondering why he hadn't run away to safety yet. 

 

_'He has cute big brown eyes,'_ Donghyuck gushed to himself, staring at the confused ghoul.

 

 "Um.. Why haven't you gone?" He asked, his voice cracked when he stepped forward, almost like he wanted to scare Donghyuck away. Donghyuck stayed in the same position, though, not even bothering to giggle at the ghoul’s voice crack (who seemed obviously embarrassed his scaring tactic didn’t work). 

 

 "Thank you." Donghyuck piped, the ghoul just shrugged awkwardly, 

 

 "No problem? Why aren't you screaming at me, aren't you afraid I'm gonna eat you?" 

 

 "Because you saved me," Donghyuck said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,

 

 "What if I pushed that imbecile away to have you as my own dinner tonight?" The ghoul said lowly as he shoved his fist next to Donghyuck’s head where he sat hiding next to a wall behind the pile of trash bags, making a crack onto the brick wall behind to him.

 

 Donghyuck wasn't intimidated at all. He was instead intrigued and fascinated. He practically had sparkles in his eyes as he spoke to the onyx haired boy,

 

 "I'm not afraid of someone who looks like a kitten." He grinned, pushing his luck. He was definitely going to die tonight. Or so he thought until the sight of the the ghoul blushing profusely made Donghyuck continued to grin. 

 

 “Your kagune is really pretty. Rinkaku right?"

 

 The raven continued to blush and poked Donghyuck’s chest, whom didn’t retract from the touch at all,

 

 "You're clearly a human. How do you know so much about ghouls?" 

 

 "I read a lot about them on my spare time," Donghyuck shrugged, leaning forward closer to the ghoul, "I find them interesting and I haven't seen any in person until I saw that guy and you."

 

 "You're weird." The raven looked at Donghyuck strangely until he sniffed and noticed that the human was bleeding from his cuts and there were large scratches on his knees, "Oi. You're bleeding!"

 

 "It's whatever it doesn't hurt that bad- Hey!" Donghyuck yelped when he felt the ghoul pick him up bridal style, "What are you doing pervert man-eater? I didn't agree to this!"

 

 "Harsh.." The ravenette rolled his eyes at Donghyuck’s outburst, "I'll take you to my apartment to get treated. Humans are fragile. And Yuta might wake up with his bones regenerated so we have to bounce like.. _Now_.” He muttered the last part about whomever Yuta was (Donghyuck assumed it was the ghoul half dead in the alley with them) but chose to answer him. 

 

 "Compared to ghouls, yeah. We’re pretty fragile.” Donghyuck said, wrapping his arms around the ghoul's neck tightly when he stretched his legs slightly, "Hey I never caught your name, Strange Ghoul Man." 

 

 The ghoul leaped up in the air and onto the top of the building easily and continued jumping on top of buildings and towards an apartment complex, the lights around them were only the city’s dim ones. Buildings lights from offices still on and night-owl’s apartments still glowing from the inside. Donghyuck gazed at the sight around him instead of being scared of the possibility that the ghoul could easily have tricked him and throw him onto the ground to die and be his dinner tonight. 

 

 "Mark." He murmured, dropping down in front of an apartment complex. He put Donghyuck down but the boy stuck his hand out as he grinned up at Mark, who was only a few inches taller than him,

 

 "My name's Donghyuck. You can call me Hyuck though. That was that one hell of a ride here."

 

 Mark stared at Donghyuck before grabbing his waist to help him walk, 

 "Cute." He quietly mumbled before opening his front door and leading a bewildered Donghyuck inside. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Hyuck you complete dumbass you actually went into a random ghoul's house without knowing his actual intentions, are you trying to kill yourself!?" A loud, angry Jaemin hissed through the phone Donghyuck held, making him distance the device away from his ear to cringe at how loud his nagging friend was.

 

Mark was currently digging through his closet to find his first-aid kit that he had never used once. Ghouls didn’t need medical attention when hurt. If they were dying they’d have to eat ghoul flesh to survive. So having the kit was pointless to Mark but he kept it in case. He was stumped to why he was helping this human out and why he thought it felt right to use his unneeded resources on him. He just felt compelled to. Maybe he was just too soft for a ghoul.

 

Donghyuck had gotten a call from his roommate slash best friend Jaemin to ask where he was since he didn't come home. The younger wasn’t picking up his phone (that was on silent mind you) until he had made it to Mark’s home. Donghyuck had explained everything hence why Jaemin yelled at him and was ready to tear his head off if a ghoul wouldn’t do it first.

 

"Hey quiet down I can tell he doesn't have bad intentions," Donghyuck reasoned with him, looking at Mark who was bent over grabbing tissues,"I'll come home after he helps me clean my bruises alright?"

 

"Are you even human sometimes? You aren’t even acting as if he- Alright," Jaemin sighed into his phone, obviously pensive about leaving Donghyuck alone with a ghoul, "Just try not to get eaten by ghouls again and next time keep your phone off silent and make Chenle come along with you when going home, okay? I’ll beat your ass later.”

 

"Okaaay, Nana. I’ll see you later," Donghyuck said and Jaemin bid him a choked farewell then hung up after Donghyuck convinced him for the nth time he was gonna fine.

 

Mark came back with the kit and placed it down on the coffee table in front of Donghyuck who sat on the comfy red couch in the living room. He hadn’t really looked around Mark’s apartment, it was small and quaint. Obviously for only two people, there were not many personal pictures hung up besides a few that included Mark or some other boy he didn’t recognize. Mark had a sole tv in the middle of his living room atop a black cabinet filled with assorted DVDS. The human wondered what Mark liked to do on his free time.

 

As Mark opened the box and started to dab alcohol on Donghyuck’s bruised knees with a cotton swab he decided to make smalltalk, even though he was completely unsure of what to say since he couldn’t hold a conversation well,

 

"So what's a human doing out late at night knowing very well he could get attacked by a ghoul?"

 

"I came back from work late and I thought that area was clear of ghouls." Donghyuck said, wincing once in a while when Mark had touched his bruising knees, "Why were you outside?"

 

"I wasn't hunting that's for sure. Because if I was, I would've eaten you right there.” He didn’t seem like he was joking. “But I'm not that type of ghoul, I actually feel guilt from eating humans so I eat raw pig meat instead. I was taking a refresher after having an argument with my roommate about rent so now he's crashing at his friend's place." Mark explained, placing a large bandaid over a semi-bleeding scratch on Donghyuck’s knee.

 

"Ohh. So you're sort of like some type of vegan?" Donghyuck asked, dead serious. Mark rolled his eyes from where he sat,

 

"Are you joking?"

 

Donghyuck shook his head, “I do have a serious question now. Can you walk me back home?"

 

Mark looked up at Donghyuck and tilted his head, though he obviously felt bad for his oncoming answer,

 

"I can't be bothered with walking tonight again and the risk of another ghoul coming to attack you is very high since the particular ghoul that attacked you has a few friends. They wouldn’t hesitate to snap

your neck. So I suggest you stay here for the night instead."

 

"Right.." Donghyuck mumbled, Jaemin was so gonna kill him. He pulled out his phone and texted Jaemin at the speed of light that he wasn't coming home tonight and turned off his phone to ignore the incoming messages of Jaemin 'screaming' at him in caps lock. He loved his friend dearly, being a carefree smiley boy but he was a worrywart when it came to Donghyuck.

 

"I smell like ghoul blood," Mark sniffed himself and cringed, obvious distaste for the stench of Yuta’s blood. He stood up, looking down at Donghyuck getting straight to the point, "You go take the bed and I'll take the couch. I'm just gonna take a quick shower."

 

Donghyuck was about to open his mouth in protest but Mark narrowed his eyes at him, his kakugan appearing for a split second to intimidate Donghyuck and pointed at an oak door. He assumed it was the ghoul’s bedroom telling from how his door was blank and the other one was covered in stickers and pictures. Mark didn’t seem like the outgoing type from what Donghyuck could tell, he was horribly awkward.

 

Donghyuck just sighed and stood up, walking towards the room, Mark followed behind and went into the bathroom. His room was clean. There were some knick-knacks on a nearby desk that had a laptop and a few books laying on the corner of it. A basket filled with dirty laundry in a corner near the closet and another TV, along with an Xbox near it.

 

Some pictures of Mark and what seemed to be his friends were displayed around the room, making the space look a little more personal. He peered at the picture, in awe of how ghouls can maintain such happy relationships even as they were being hunted to either die or get caught to be in captivity for research.

 

The bed was neatly made. In contrast to Donghyuck, Mark was neat and clean. Donghyuck was messy and never cleaned up after himself because of how lazy he was. Jaemin always scolded him for it yet cleaned up for him because Donghyuck does all the cooking for both of them. What can he say, he makes a mean lasagna and Jaemin was willing to clean up after him just to eat it on Friday nights.

 

The human was dead tired, he fell onto the neat bed and crawled under the sheets like a bed bug. Donghyuck felt all the stress and relief wash over him as his body felt comfortable under the warm sheets. Though he couldn't sleep for a good 20 minutes, he opted to listen to the ghoul's humming inside the bathroom as he showered.

 

The door of the bathroom made a creaking sound when it opened, Donghyuck glanced over at the door and Mark appeared shirtless with a towel over his head. His lips curled into a teasing smirk as he peeked over his burrito blanket he had rolled himself into. He easily fell into his eccentric personality around anyone.

 

Donghyuck was amazed at how un-muscled Mark was behind those sweats he wore earlier and still was able to beat up the other ghoul from before. He wasn’t very scrawny but he did have some toned arms that Donghyuck wouldn’t mind admiring once in awhile. Mark glanced at Donghyuck’s supposed to be sleeping figure and blushed furiously when he had caught the human’s eyes,

 

"What the fuck! Stop looking at me like that!"

 

Donghyuck watched the ghoul turn his back to look for clothes in his closet, the atmosphere quiet until he opened his mouth,

 

"Hey, are ghoul's good in bed? Do you guys ever use your kagune for it? Especially since a lot of you are ripped and stuff-"

 

Mark tossed his shirt at Donghyuck’s teasing face,

 

"You're the pervert here." Mark grunted as he pulled his shirt off of Donghyuck’s annoying face, blushing again as pushed Donghyuck’s face down to his pillow in resentment. Donghyuck’s covered laugh annoyed the ghoul even more,

"I will eat you!"

 

"I'm just stating what we all have been thinking!" Donghyuck’s muffled voice said from under the pillow. Mark huffed and pulled his hand away from Donghyuck’s head to let the human breathe,

 

"I’m not going to ask why you’re agreeing so easily to stay inside a ghoul’s house instead of screeching your head off and acting like I can’t just snap you in two. You already seem like a weird kid..” Mark trailed off, “Goodnight. I’m locking the door so you don’t have to worry about me or my roommate coming in to harm you.” He said firmly and walked away while putting on his shirt. He hit his face against the door by accident and grunted, rubbing his face in annoyance. Donghyuck stifled a giggle.

 

"Goodnight!" Donghyuck grinned and Mark glared at him, shutting the door behind him. The sound of the lock being the final thing Donghyuck heard before passing out, sleeping soundly in the ghoul’s bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the support on the first ch!! comments/kudos are appreciated here too<3 sorry this is so fast paced ?!? i just wanna get to the good stuff already smh
> 
> updates every 2-3 days <3 
> 
> and yes, donghyucks a very trusting boy someone please hold him before he gets killed or smth


	3. Chapter 3

 “Oh, you still haven’t escaped out the window yet..” The sound of Mark’s calming voice filled Donghyuck’s ears as he slept on the comfortable bed under him. There was a consistent buzzing noise in the background.

 

 "Hey.. Wake up." Mark called, placing his hand on top of Donghyuck’s shoulder to shake him awake. He smacked the ghoul’s hand away from him, surprising Mark but he kept shaking Donghyuck to wake up anyway.

 

 "Mm," Donghyuck whined and covered himself with the blanket, he curled himself into a ball but Mark wasn't dealing with it.

 

 "Wake up. Your phone keeps buzzing with texts and calls and it's getting annoying while I brush my teeth." 

 

 "Ghouls can brush their teeth without gagging?" Donghyuck peeked out of the covers with curiosity looking like a whack-a-mole character. Mark held back a snort when he noticed this,

 

 "Of course we can. Our teeth would be rotten and yellow like a human's would be if we didn't.”

 

 "Ohh that's interesting," Donghyuck yawned and closed his eyes again, turning back into his burrito to sleep. Mark glared at him,

 

 "Hey don't go back to sleep your friend by the name of Jaemin is calling you." Donghyuck’s eyes flew open at the name 'Jaemin',

 

 "Oh fuck he's going to kill me." Donghyuck cursed, sitting up completely as he hurriedly looked for his phone.

 

 "Watch your language!" Mark said, walking out to make himself a cup of coffee, the only drink that helps replenish a ghoul's hunger for human meat. Ghouls weren’t able to eat normal human food, they had to consume human or ghoul flesh and could go months without eating. Pig meat was a reliable substitute for awhile if they couldn’t get either but it tasted just as horrible as human food. 

 

 So coffee was a good temporary meal for ‘Ghoul Vegans’ as Donghyuck dubbed it. Which crosses back to Donghyuck’s theory on his co-worker being a ghoul. But Chenle didn’t seem like the type to eat humans. 

 

 Donghyuck snatched his phone off of the nightstand and scrolled through his 103 notifications, all from Jaemin himself. Donghyuck opened his phone and quickly pressed on Jaemin’s number as he saw more notifications appear from him,

 

 "Donghyuck." Jaemin’s unpleasant sounding voice came from the other side, he seethed venom as he said the human's name. He was definitely angry.

 

 "Hey, Nana." Donghyuck laughed nervously to himself, pulling on the collar of his t-shirt. He used the little affectionate nickname he’d given his best friend to help him get off the hook just for once. Jaemin obviously wasn't taking it,

 

 "You _dumbass_. How could you do _that_ then ignore me all night and oversleep then ignore all my texts and calls!? You know how worried I get over you Hyuck!" Jaemin ranted into the phone whilst Donghyuck sighed, rubbing his face as he was still half asleep but Jaemin’s yelling woke him up fully.

 

 “Jaemin I know, I know. I’m sorry- Yes, I’ll be home soon. Of course I’ll pick up some milk on the way. Lowfat or almond milk? Okay, okay. No he didn’t try to eat me. His name’s Mark. Okay, okay. Bye Nana.” Donghyuck let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he had ended the call and walked out to see Mark with a mug of coffee as he watched some shitty K-drama on his TV. Donghyuck just plopped down next him, as if he was one of Mark’s friends coming over and invading his space. It was only half true.

 

 “You know who the ghoul who attacked me was, right?”

 

 “Yeah that was Yuta. He gets violent when he hasn’t eaten human meat in awhile.” Mark said nonchalantly, taking a sip of his coffee. Donghyuck wanted to keep the conversation going. Wanting to know more about Mark, pushing it even though he knew it was dangerous to even be sitting next to him. 

 

 “.. Do you know why ghoul terms are in Japanese?” Donghyuck asked to break the silence. Mark looked over his shoulder, shrugging at the human, as if to say he didn’t know but kept his eyes on the screen soon after. 

 

 “Nah. They don’t really have a ghoul history class in college unless you’re studying to work for the CCG or read some books about it. I’ve never bothered to learn about my cursed abilities,” Mark sounded bitter while he spoke. He obviously didn’t like being seen as a threat to society, Donghyuck could see that. Mark had already said he felt guilty eating humans so why shouldn’t Donghyuck trust him? 

 

Well for starters, his species were ruthless and consumed humans. They were the cause of countless mass murders just to fulfill their hunger. On second thought, Donghyuck needed to work on his people skills.. 

 

 “Hm.. I think your abilities are pretty cool,” Donghyuck hummed, grinning when Mark raised an eyebrow up at him, he added, “They’re in Japanese because that’s where ghouls originated from thousands of years ago. Unclear about how but they knew where. Congrats Mark you’re like 3% Japanese.” 

 

 He just heard Mark chuckle to himself, amused by Donghyuck’s attempt at conversation. Donghyuck took it as a chance to sit closer but Mark had turned his head slightly, unsure of Donghyuck’s presence when he realized the younger knew _too_ much. 

 

  “Why do you like learning about ghouls so much? Are you studying to join the CCG?” Mark spoke carefully now, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He felt a rush of anxiety going through him when Donghyuck leaned back in thought. Mark had never been one to talk to humans freely, he’d mind his own business unless it had to do with work. 

 

 He’d attended to humans and ghouls where he worked at a well known cafe in the city named ‘ _Dream Café_ ’ in an obnoxiously fancy, cursive font on the sign outside. You could say he was more scared of humans ruining his chances to lead an ordinary life than they were of him eating them.

 

 Now having Donghyuck here, potentially just as dangerous since he could blow his cover and get him killed. He didn’t fully trust the boy yet until he wasn’t sure the younger wasn’t secretly working for the CCG or anything. He almost snorted at his own thoughts, he _still_ didn’t trust the human yet let him sleep in his bed and sit on his couch as if they were friends? It should be Donghyuck doubting Mark, not the other way around.

 

  “I’m just too curious for my own good. I’m studying to become an astronaut,” Donghyuck finally answered, a grin playing upon his lips. Mark could tell he was joking about being an astronaut but not about his curiosity, “Kidding. History is my major, I don’t know what I’m even doing but I know one thing. I don’t want to be that shitty human that snitches every time I see a ghoul. Ghouls are pretty cool. They deserve to live just as much as humans do. To me at least, kids would always get scared of me when I told them ghouls were cooler than their Transformers figures.”

 

 “You’re.. Way too trusting. It’s starting to become obvious to me that you want to be my friend or something,” Mark said, his shoulders visibly relaxing as he paused the television to look at Donghyuck. Donghyuck shrugged, smiling warmly at the ghoul. Mark tore his eyes away, trying not to be too attached already. But Donghyuck’s smile was radiant and he was almost blinded by it. The ghoul cleared his throat, “Curiosity killed the cat, you know. I don’t think you should befriend ghouls you barely know like this.”

 

 “I know.” Donghyuck still smiled, “But you’re nice. I like nice people.” 

 

 “You just want me to take you home on my back don’t you?” 

 

 “You know me so well already!” 

 

 He was a human and Mark was a ghoul, it’s not safe for either of them to start a friendship. Mark decided to go along with it anyways. He could always just up and move when things got too out of hand. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kinda said this fic wouldnt have a lot of angst considering how angsty tokyo ghoul (what this is based off of) is,,, but it will have ,, angst at some point ,, some parts will be intense and there will be tw’s 
> 
> im not very proud of the first few chapters of this fic but i promise it will pick up soon :,( next update is thursday aa


	4. Chapter 4

  When Donghyuck had made it into his apartment and unlocked the door, he was immediately engulfed into a hug by a pink haired boy. The usually smiling Jaemin was now frowning and sniffling into Donghyuck’s shoulder, making a wet spot from all the crying.

 

  “You idiot.” Jaemin huffed, grabbing his friend by the shoulders when he pulled away, shaking Donghyuck’s shoulders, “Are you okay? Oh- you brought the almond milk.”

 

  “I’m fine Jaemin.. A little shooken up but I’m good.” Donghyuck sighed, handing the boy the almond milk and looking away wistfully into whatever was in the distance, then looking back at a confused Jaemin, “I also think I really want to befriend him.”

 

 Jaemin soon pulled Donghyuck by the arm and shoved him inside of their apartment. The almond milk forgotten as he dropped it outside.

 

 The home practically screamed Donghyuck with the walls being a sunflower yellow, the thing Donghyuck wanted the most when he had moved in to his own apartment with Jaemin. 

 

 They both had agreed to split the responsibilities, Donghyuck choosing how to decorate and paint the walls and Jaemin choosing the interior. The whole apartment was homey and filled with so many personal belongings. It was a stark contrast to Mark’s home. 

 

  “Okay, Hyuck. You’re talking about the ghoul you met last night, right?” Donghyuck furiously nodded and Jaemin grabbed the younger boy by the cheeks, both hands on each side as he shook him, “You’ve known this fucking dude that can choose to have you for lunch at any time for like what? 15 hours? Now you think you want to be friends with him? How hard did that ghoul hit your head?”

 

 “Oh come on you can’t be talking! It’s not even in _that_ way, I just want to be friends with him. He seems lonely but he doesn’t seem to want to be close with me.” Donghyuck whined, trying to pull away from his friend’s grip. Jaemin, however, glared at him and tightened his fingers between Donghyuck’s cheeks, “You have a fat crush on that barista at the Dream Café and you haven’t even spoke to him once!” 

 

 “This is different you butt-nugget!” Jaemin protested, letting go of Donghyuck’s now red cheeks from being pinched with Jaemin’s bony fingers, “He can’t eat me and I’ve been pining towards him for over a year now! Of course the ghoul isn’t interested in being friends with you! You could also potentially ruin his life too, you know? This isn’t fucking Twilight!”

 

 “Still! He’s just cute, it’s not that big of a deal.” Donghyuck pouted now, pulling his friend onto the couch, “I can’t let this chance to be friends with a cool fuckin’ ghoul go to waste.”

 

  “You have _me_ , that’s all that should matter,” Jaemin muttered, his arms crossed as he glared thoughtfully at the ground, “I don’t think this is safe for either of you if you start whatever you have now.”

 

 Donghyuck looked at his unsure friend pursing his lips, lacing his fingers through Jaemin’s own. He could still hear his warnings in the back of his head about studying the objects of his interest yet chose to ignore it anyways. Jaemin had always detested ghouls.

 

 “It’s fine. Trust me.”

 

 

 

 A few weeks had passed since Donghyuck last saw Mark. Donghyuck, being the forgetful person he was, forgot to ask Mark for his number when he had dropped him off at his place. He could not stop thinking about him, his thoughts were plagued by the not-so-intimidating ghoul. Mark wasn’t very mysterious, from what he’s seen so far he just didn’t seem very outgoing and trusting. Donghyuck was determined to change that, Mark _will_ be his best ghoul friend in the whole world. 

 

 So Donghyuck had a plan to see the ghoul again. He was planning on leaving late every time he’d leave from work, or cram in a few hours after school just to walk home at a later time than he was supposed to. 

 

 But Jaemin was his best friend so all those plans of ‘accidentally’ running into Mark again were replaced with the happy go-lucky little blob of his electric green haired co-worker pulling him down the street after work/school and screeching into Donghyuck’s ear every 3 seconds. No ghoul would dare go near Donghyuck because of Chenle around him. Donghyuck hated Jaemin. He was sure of it (and was still sure of Chenle being a ghoul). 

 

 Fast forward to now, Jaemin dragged Donghyuck’s unwilling, sleep-deprived ass out of bed so they could go get some breakfast at the Dream Café like normal human beings would. _Not_ because Jaemin wanted to see his crush and couldn’t stand going alone to look at him since he had spilled hot coffee on his lap a few days prior. Donghyuck had cackled loudly and let the whole apartment complex know Jaemin was a complete fool. Donghyuck went down with a tickle fight started from his friend but Jaemin deserved it.

 

 Though Jaemin wasn’t very approving of Donghyuck’s sort-of-friendship with Mark that had barely grown since he had no way to contact him, he still let the younger go on and on about ghoul facts until the day he finally got to see Mark again. It annoyed him to no end he had to know more about these creatures he disliked.

 

 “Did you know District Three down in Busan holds the most ghouls in our country?” Donghyuck spit his ghoul fact of the day to his muttering best friend who looked half dead as they walked into the café. It wasn’t fancy, it was kind of classy since the employees had to wear an over the top uniform with dress shirts and pants along with black vests and ties. 

 

 There was still a calming and welcoming atmosphere in the store when they had walked in and the small bell signaling their arrival rung. They had come particularly early at opening time, no one around the shop but the employees waiting.

 

 “Good morning welcome to-“ A voice choked up on their words when they had gotten a good look at the two new customers at the doorway. Donghyuck looked up in curiosity at who it was and his face paled. It was the same ghoul who had attacked him the night he first encountered a ghoul, namely _him_. He immediately shot daggers through his eyes towards whom he remembered was called Yuta. Donghyuck confirmed it when he caught a glimpse of the name tag pinned to his vest,

 

 “Yuta what the hell are you doing?” Mark’s voice hissed as he came up from behind the display case of expensive cakes and cupcakes after restocking the display. He looked over to where Yuta was looking and his pinched seagull brows softened at the sight of the human across from him. He recognized him. Donghyuck’s glare soon dissipated when he saw Mark in the classy barista outfit Yuta also wore. Of course Mark looked a thousand times better and more suited to the outfit.

 

 “So do all ghouls work at a coffee shop around humans even after attacking one barely a few weeks ago?” Donghyuck snapped, his arms crossed as his look of hatred fell upon his face once again. Jaemin, confused and afraid, scampered behind Donghyuck to grip his arm back. 

 

 “Hyuck..” Jaemin whispered, “Don’t.”

 

 “This kid’s really pushing his luck talking to me that way.” Yuta snarled, his nose scrunching up in disapproval and his kakugan slightly manifesting before Mark smacked him on the back. He glared at the other ghoul but Mark spoke with his eyes, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head over to the two awaiting customers, telling him to cut it out already. 

 

 “I’ll take it from here, Yuta.” Mark sighed, slightly pushing aside the elder to stand in front of the cash register. Mark nodded his head again, the older ghoul begrudgingly bowed to Donghyuck and apologized for attacking him before. The boy smirked and mockingly thanked him. Yuta only snarled again, muttering about how he was older and how Mark should respect him more before going to wipe the tables.

 

 Mark slightly grinned, satisfied before turning to look at Donghyuck again.

 

“Welcome to Dream Café. May I take your order?”

 

 “Hi Mark.” Donghyuck immediately gushed, ignoring the way Mark’s voice cracked yet again as he rushed to the register to animatedly talk to the ghoul so he could take his order and finally ask for his number so he wouldn’t have to lose sleep just looking for him. Mark had told him, in the midst of printing out his receipt, he hadn’t gone back out much since then only to work. He hadn’t realized he didn’t give Donghyuck a way to contact him so he had been waiting on the younger, thinking he’d scared him away already. 

 

 Jaemin, on the other hand, was just watching the situation between the human and the ghoul play out behind his piping hot coffee. It burned his tongue slightly but it didn’t stop him from squinting at the ghoul suspiciously. Mark had repeatedly gone to their table in the past 30 minutes to occasionally talk to Donghyuck. Donghyuck made excuses for Mark to come over, like telling him there was dust everywhere near them and to clean, wipe the tables down (even though his co-worker had already done so), and clean the windows. Mark was.. getting comfortable with Donghyuck but not to an extent where he can handle Donghyuck’s jokes very well yet.

 

 He was accidentally flexing his arms at some point, Donghyuck teasing him and Jaemin could practically feel the second hand embarrassment. Jaemin could tell, much to his frightened demeanor around ghouls, that Mark wasn’t very scary. Yuta on the other hand.. He’d rather not. He and Donghyuck kept bickering back and forth as he kept making Donghyuck stay longer just to wait for his crush to arrive. 

 

 “I’ll charge you kids extra if you stick around for another hour.”

 

“It’s illegal for you to even be alive right now, now it’s illegal for you to charge us.”

 

 Jaemin’s eyes scanned around the Café, looking for a specific someone. His crush hadn’t even arrived to take his shift yet. It was a slow morning, a few people had come in the past hour but no one was around again. The atmosphere was quiet, save for the soft piano music playing in the background.

 

 “Jaemin.. Is your crush Yuta?” Donghyuck whispered, cupping his hands around his mouth after Mark had left to go roast beans in the back room. Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows, looking back between him and the Japanese ghoul currently not so subtly watching anime behind the counter on his phone. He felt Jaemin’s eyes on him, freezing in his spot before glaring back up at him with his black eyes to intimidate him. Jaemin squeaked and looked away,

 

 “Hell no. I don’t like.. ghouls. His shift starts soon-“

 

 “Jeno you’re late!” Yuta called, tossing over an apron to a tall teenager walking through the entrance, ruffling his dark hair tiredly. He seemed to be frowning and narrowing his eyes at Mark,

 

 “I know. Mark left before me so I didn’t wake up on time.”

 

 “I’m not your mom.” Mark huffed, coming out from the backroom with a bag of beans, “You should know when to take responsibility.”

 

 Donghyuck gasped, watching the scene unfold, his mouth agape as he stared at Jeno. He looked at Jeno, then to Jaemin, then back at Jeno, then finally back to Jaemin. This was the same kid in his class that ate raw meat ignoring curious stares from his peers. It was easy to connect the dots that the employees Donghyuck had met so far in Dream Café were ghouls, so he didn’t doubt Jeno was one too. 

 

 How was Donghyuck ever going to tell Jaemin that he, in fact, had a crush on a ghoul? Jaemin would seriously be turned off by it, unless he was on the bit freaky side. 

 

 “Oh.. Mark you know Jeno?” Donghyuck asked, his eyes still darting between Jaemin’s flirty eyes and Jeno’s tired ones looking ahead and listening to Yuta’s monotonous instructions. Mark nodded, catching his eyes and noticing the sudden tension.

 

 “Yeah, he’s my roommate.” Mark confirmed before he mouthed to Donghyuck ‘ _does he know?_ ’ referring to Jaemin being oblivious to the fact that Jeno was of a species he truly detested.

 

 Donghyuck shook his head, wincing when Mark muttered a ‘ _yikes_ ’ as he wiped his hands on a rag. The human turned his head, watching another figure walked out the door, _a new person_. He was a mellow looking man, thin lips and blonde fringe covering his big doe eyes. His name tag read ‘ _Hansol_ ’. Yuta visibly perked up noticing the man, putting down his phone. His permanent frown slowly etched into a smirk,

 

 “What’s up hot stuff.”

 

 “Yuta get back to work before I tear off your dick and throw it in a blender.”

 

 “Feisty. I like that.”

 

 Donghyuck mentally threw up. He was about to complain to Jaemin until he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He looked down at the message and saw that Chenle had texted him, begging him to cover his shift later since he vaguely implied he had ‘important business’ to take care of. Much to Donghyuck’s annoyance, he’d rather take another shift and deal with kids buying condoms as ‘pranks’ giggling like idiots than see Yuta about to bring out a pack of his own. 

 

 “Jaemin we should go now,” Donghyuck gagged, not wanting to stick around to hear his newfound enemy start flirting with his co-worker, “We’ve been here long enough anyways, I have to cover Chenle’s shift soon. You can stare at Jeno next time.”

 

 “Donghyuck!” Jaemin whisper yelled, his ears reddening in embarrassment, “You said that too loud!”

 

 “Bye Mark! I’ll see you around!” Donghyuck called, already out the door dragging Jaemin outside before he could hear Mark’s goodbye.

 

 

 At least Donghyuck got to talk more to Mark today. It was slow progress but he was getting there.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once i finally make these two get together my headcanons ive had in my archives for hidekane will finally come thru.. many things prepared for this couple in this au 
> 
> thank you for 100+ kudos and 1k views! im very overwhelmed since the most ive ever gotten was 30 kudos on my fics but it feels nice to be supported so much, thank you so much!!
> 
> (also ofc id make mark a barista, he’d put kaneki to shame)


	5. Chapter 5

 Two months of being friends with Donghyuck proved very.. _normal_. It wasn’t much different from being friends within their species. But there were major differences between their lifestyles to get used to. Mark gets it though, he was Donghyuck’s first ghoul friend vice versa.

 

 They’d see each other sometimes when Jaemin continued to spy on Jeno in the café. Sometimes they’d text but that was only when Donghyuck was bored and Jaemin was ignoring him for something ‘better’ to do. Donghyuck liked stealing Jaemin’s attention away from whatever he was doing anyways when Mark or Chenle were busy.

 

_‘What’s better than me anyway that you have to ignore a shining star inside your apartment!’_

 

_‘I’m studyi- Donghyuck take off those Christmas lights before I choke you with them.’_

 

 Sometimes Donghyuck tried to be a nice friend and offer regular food to Mark, forgetting he wasn’t human. It’s not like he didn’t know of ghoul’s diets and controls, he knows plenty of it, it just sits in the back of his mind that Mark was of a different species. 

 

 The ghoul always politely declined Donghyuck’s offers, reminding him that he wasn’t capable of eating chips without wanting to throw it up. The human looked guilty every time but still continued to try and be considerate to Mark. The ghoul appreciated the thought.

 

 For a ghoul, Mark really wasn't all that intimidating to Donghyuck whether he had his weapon (kagune) on him at all costs. He seemed like just a quiet, laid-back guy who just wanted a little peace in this big world filled with man eating ghouls and spiteful humans. 

 

 Sometimes Mark would walk Donghyuck to school when he didn’t have morning shifts at the café. They met up despite Jaemin’s precautions when going out around ghouls to bring Chenle along. It seemed ghouls really detested Chenle. He was sure Mark would probably grow to like him on their walks to his apartment. Mark disagreed, his ears were still ringing from the first time.

 

 “What’s up Ghoul Boy?” Donghyuck called, seeing Mark’s familiar figure sitting atop a cell tower with a few bird friends next to him. 

 

  _Ghoul Boy_. It was a nickname Donghyuck had made up out of nowhere, Mark questioning him the first time. The human told him it sounded cooler than ‘Mark’. Mark was taken aback at first, protesting saying ‘Mark’ was a cool name but the nickname stuck to Donghyuck anyways.

 

It was morning, there were dark clouds hanging over the blue sky, indicating it was going to rain soon. It looked ugly and Donghyuck couldn’t function well in this kind of weather. He preferred sunny days.

 

 Mark was crouching down, looking at Donghyuck under his mask he wore whenever he’d gone out at night. It seems it was a restless night for the ghoul, being out and about during the nighttime wasn’t very fun since activity between ghouls and the CCG increased but Mark hated being isolated in his home for too long when he had days off. Compared to other ghouls who would isolate themselves from humanity, Mark liked being outside to explore. It was something in common the odd pair had.

 

 “Whatcha wearing your mask for? It’s 8 in the morning.”

 

 “I couldn’t sleep.” Mark simply says, standing up in his spot before carefully jumping down the metal bars formed X’s along the tower. The birds surrounding him flapped their wings in surprise, flying away from the ghoul. He hadn’t climbed very high up, ghouls could still hurt themselves jumping down high altitudes. The raven landed on the ground with ease, catching his breath when Donghyuck had caught his swaying shoulders, “Sorry.. I haven’t been on that thing in a long time.”

 

 “No sweat! That was pretty cool,” Donghyuck said, delighted he finally got to see Mark’s mask for the first time. Donghyuck had seen all types of masks before, ranging from rabbits to clowns to just plain, patterned ones. He had wondered why Mark hadn’t worn it when they first met even though he was supposed to on nights like that. 

 

 It was fitting, Mark’s onyx hair hanging over the mask, brushing the strands back with one hand after taking it off. The curved material had shades of brown on it and some large black painted on eyes with an upside-down triangle at the bottom formed to look like an owl’s beak, “You know you do kinda look like an owl. The eyebrows are very similar.”

 

 Mark rolled his eyes, walking by Donghyuck’s side whilst they walked down the streets connecting their neighborhoods. It turned out Mark lived closer to Donghyuck than they expected, it kinda horrified Jaemin when the younger notified him they lived near ghouls, he boarded up the front door. 

 

 They bumped their arms together slightly as they walked until Donghyuck spoke up.

 

  “Can you let me wear your mask?” Donghyuck asked out of nowhere, grabbing Mark by the shoulders with the same sparkling look in his eye. Mark’s eyes widened. 

 He wasn’t expecting Donghyuck to touch him so suddenly but it should’ve been a normal thing by now. Donghyuck had always touched him out of nowhere since they started being friends; hugging him, holding his hand, invading his personal bubble not even Jeno dared to touch. Especially since Donghyuck seemed so unafraid, not caring if Mark could lose control at any moment. 

 He shrugged his shoulders, mumbling a quiet ‘why not’ handing the mask he was holding towards Donghyuck who took it excitedly. The younger placed it over his face but it was too big, it wouldn’t stay on and Mark couldn’t help but chuckle as he helped him hold it up, “Look! I’m you Mark. Don’t you think I’m looking a bit.. Ghoulish in this mask?”

 

 “Donghyuck I’ll bite your hand off.” Mark groaned, smacking his palm against his forehead tiredly. Another hard thing about being friends with this particular human was his shitty ghoul puns. They were unbearable. Mark wondered how he came up with these terrible jokes.

 

 “Mark, what’s a ghoul’s favorite drink?” Donghyuck exclaimed, pulling off the mask and handing it back to an embarrassed Mark, “Ghoul-Aid!”

 

 “Hyuc-“

 

 “Why don’t ghoul’s go to school? Because they’re too ghoul for school!” Donghyuck was cracking up at his own jokes in the middle of the sidewalk on the ground and Mark wasn’t sure if he should help him up or not considering his insulting puns. People around them were trying to swerve the ball of orange hair cackling on the ground.

 

 “That’s the fifth time you used that school pun and it’s _still_ not funny.” Mark quipped, holding his hand out for Donghyuck to get up. The younger still giggled, getting ahold of Mark’s hand and standing up with ease. He didn’t let go of his hand, continuing to cling to the warmth and swinging it around as he did with Jaemin or Chenle. Mark paid no mind to it, just letting Donghyuck do his thing.

 

 He wouldn’t admit it out loud but he liked having Donghyuck around. Though it was hard to relate to the other boy they did share some things in common. They both liked physical affection, Mark wouldn’t say it but he was pretty sure he liked it more than Donghyuck did. The human probably knew already.

 

  He lacked it all his life, not being able to get a first girlfriend or have many friends around because of his status. So he hadn’t known he liked being touched by others until Donghyuck started holding his hand and hugging him randomly. When Donghyuck entered his life he switched everything upside down, Mark liked his carefree nature. They both liked being outside, they both liked animals, they both wanted to smack Yuta across the head every time he opened his mouth. 

 

 Mark liked being friends with Donghyuck no matter how odd their relationship was or how hard it was to relate to each other. They were still able to have fun with each other be it Mark walking Donghyuck to class or Mark carrying Donghyuck on his back as they leaped on buildings just so Donghyuck could see the city lights at night he adored so much. 

 

 It was starting to become clear to each other that something was there whenever they touched or looked at each other, but they didn’t know what. 

 

 “Here’s my stop!” Donghyuck announced when they arrived on the campus, his body moved animatedly as he pulled away from Mark’s hand. He lowly whispered, winking at the elder, “See you later alli-ghoul-tor!” 

 

 “Bye idiot.” 

 

 Their looks lingered a little more than friends should before Mark broke it off, walking away with his hands in his pocket in deep thought.

 

—

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really just wanted to write a chapter focused on ghouls abilities, write a few fight scenes and donghyuck gushing over marks cool ass abilities bc i think itd be cute. and introducing the rest of the dream cafe employees + explaining literally everyones abilities + some yusol content and a new ship added .. yay :D

 “Mark please, please,  _please_  let me come with you!” Donghyuck whined, grabbing the ghoul by the arm as he shook him to further annoy the elder out of his wits. Mark was currently trying to head off to the café, Jeno next to him not even bothering to peel Donghyuck off Mark, knowing the ghoul would give in at some point. 

 

 Jaemin was there too, but he was just there to give moral support for Mark to deal with Donghyuck’s whining. He had no idea what was going on.

 

 “No Donghyuck! It’s dangerous and I don’t know what the others would say if I brought you along.” 

 

 All employees had a day off today, the shop closing for the day but it didn’t excuse them from doing nothing all day. It was a monthly mandatory training day for all the ghouls working at the café to attend. Which meant Mark had to cancel on his plans to hang out with Donghyuck, the human saying it was okay until he perked up at Jeno mentioning the words ‘sparring’ and ‘training’. So here he was, begging Mark to let him go with him to spectate. 

 

 Jaemin had followed along, unaware that Donghyuck was begging Mark to let him go see a bunch of ghouls spar with each other, if he knew otherwise he would have been on board with the idea of not letting Donghyuck go. But he had an excuse to be near Jeno (still very unaware of the fact that the other boy was a ghoul). 

 

 “Please!” Donghyuck dragged the ‘e’ longer this time, wrapping his whole body around Mark this time. The ghoul let out a long groan, squeezing his eyes shut once Donghyuck had started pouting and widening his eyes like a puppy. 

 

 He was trying to act cute so Mark could agree, it was his first time trying this out on anyone other than Jaemin and he was 100% sure it would work if it was Mark. His theory was proved right when Mark groaned again, pushing Donghyuck’s face away in defeat,

 

 “Fine! Just.. Tell your friend not to freak out, ghouls can sense fear and it heightens their senses. Yuta won’t hold back.”

 

 “Yes!” Donghyuck cheered, pulling away from a flustered Mark until he reached over to pull Jaemin aside from his small talk he was forming with Jeno to explain to him where they were heading.

 

 “Aren’t we going to the café?” Jaemin questioned, looking over at Jeno, who was now busy with his arm around Mark as they both laughed over something dumb he showed him on the younger’s phone. Donghyuck nodded, 

 

 “Yeah! But we’re also going to see a bunch of ghouls fighting with each other and if you let your fear show, you might get eaten!”

 

 Jaemin’s face paled,

 

 “What?” He whispered weakly, noticing they had arrived at their destination. 

 

 The pairs were greeted by Hansol, the owner of the café, along with being Yuta’s boyfriend and Mark’s legal guardian. He was a bit older than everyone, nearly 26, being very laid-back and snappy when he wanted to be. He was a half-ghoul unlike his full ghoul co-workers, only one of his scleras manifested into black rather than both since he was born from a human and ghoul.

 

 “Mark, Jeno! Good afternoon shitfaces, are you two ready to get your asses beaten!” Yuta whooped, cutting off whatever greeting Hansol was about to give the newcomers, walking out the backroom with a haughty grin spread across his face. Hansol narrowed his eyes at him, unamused.

 

 “Yuta shut your trap.” He scolded him, slapping off the arm suddenly wrapped around his waist and pulling Yuta down by the ear, “Be nice. They brought some friends so you have to be on your best behavior today.”

 

 “ _Hansollie_ ,” Yuta cooed, pushing aside the pain from tightening fingers curling his ear, “I love it when you’re rough- Ack!” 

 

 “Welcome Mark, Jeno. Mind finally introducing your boyfriends to me?” Hansol said, smiling sweetly at the two humans in front of him and promptly ignoring his boyfriend doubled over in pain. Hansol was not one to be messed with. 

 

 “Wait they aren’t our boyfriends!” Mark sputtered, waving his hands in front of him frantically. Jaemin looked like he was choking and Jeno was awkwardly patting his back to help. Donghyuck, however, returned the smile to Hansol and held Mark by the arm, leaning his head against his shoulder. He looked up at Mark with a smirk,

 

 “Aw, _baby_ , don’t try and hide our relationship from the others!” He evilly giggled, watching Mark’s face heat up in embarrassment. He looked at an amused Hansol, holding his hand out, “The name’s Donghyuck! _Lee_ Donghyuck that is, nice to meet you!”

 

 “ _Lee_? Oh my, you’re both married already? Mark how dare you not tell me.” Hansol asked incredulously, his hands on his hips, playing along with Donghyuck’s joke. Mark was flustered, his mouth gaping open like a fish. Reaching over, he shook Donghyuck’s hand still in midair, “What’s up, I’m Hansol, Mark’s boss and guardian. I like your style already, kid. Let me recount to you all of Mark’s embarrassing moments over a cup of coffee one day, yea?” 

 

 “Hansol’s also my sweet boyfr- _Fuck_! Stop doing that!” Yuta screeched, doubling over as his crotch was abused once more by Hansol’s hand karate-chopping it. Hansol looked over to Jaemin who was looking a little pale but still gently tapped on his shoulder to introduce himself to him. 

 

 “I can sense you two aren’t ghouls, the boys won’t bite.” Hansol said, finishing introducing himself to Jaemin to assure him no one would harm him as long as Hansol was around, noticing the fear implemented in his eyes, “Training starts in a bit. Do you two want anything while you guys watch us spar? You’ll meet the rest of the boys upstairs.”

 

 The two politely declined, Mark and Yuta consecutively whining about how Hansol never offered to make them not even coffee as they walked up the stairs towards the rooftop of the café where the rest of the crew was. Hansol opened the door to the open roof top where Mark had take Donghyuck to already countless times to show him his own abilities. 

 

 Though the roof was out in the open, not many people were around at this time of day so they could safely do their training without any issue. Donghyuck was holding Jaemin’s hand, reassuringly squeezing it when they were faced with a familiar face and two new ones. 

 

 It seems they’d already started without the rest of the ghouls. Currently, the two new faces Donghyuck and Jaemin hadn’t met yet were up against each other. Hansol had hurriedly pushed the two humans safely to the side where they wouldn’t get hurt, Yuta bringing some chairs behind them per Hansol’s request. 

 

 The seemingly younger one was on the ground, his hand placed in front of him and his back arched up in the air, his hazelnut hair hanging across sharp eyes, kakugan manifested and thinned lips pulled into a frown. His kagune was no where near similar to the basic structure that typical ghouls had. 

 

 His looked like two creme-colored literal butterfly wings on the sides, branching out from his shoulders like flower petals. Along with two long, spines appearing from the bottom. There were two large blood red circles on the wings and four spotted down along the two tendons. 

 

 Donghyuck could not believe his eyes when he had admired the beautiful kagune the ghoul across from him held. He never thought he’d get a chance to see such a rare sight in all his years of being interested in ghouls. The ghoul had a  _chimera_ kagune, a rare type of kagune where a ghoul can inherit two different types of kagune from it’s parents. The one across from him had an  _koukaku_  (the wings) and _rinkaku_ (the two tendons) connecting from his back. 

 

 “That’s Renjun and Ten,” Hansol whispered to the amazed human, not wanting to interrupt the two ghouls getting ready to spar against each other, “The one with the chimera is Renjun. The other one with koukaku is Ten.”

 

The other across from Renjun named Ten was in the same stance but instead of a stoic expression across his face, he held a playful grin. His hair was black, parted in the middle and he was much skinnier and taller, looking almost like a cat in his stance. 

 

 His kagune was a _koukaku_ , a defensive type, appearing from the top of his shoulder blade down his arm, like his whole arm was a spear. It was purple with blue electricity pulsing from the kagune. It seemed Ten had one of the rare abilities ghouls could have besides chimeras, he had literal electricity running through him and his kagune. 

 

 “Go!” A familiar voice screeched from the sidelines, Donghyuck almost got whiplash from how fast his head turned to see his co-worker from the convenience store, Chenle, watching the scene in front of him with a wide grin. 

 

 “I fucking knew it!” Donghyuck quietly hissed to himself, watching Chenle walk towards him, waving furiously. Donghyuck just nodded his head towards him, as if to say he’ll talk to him later because he was about to see a _whole_ ghoul spar go down in front of him. 

 

 Renjun immediately sprung up from the ground after Chenle’s signal, dodging Ten’s first obvious attack to lurch forward and charge at him with his kagune.

 

 “If you ever want to beat me in this, Ten, the least you can do is stop using that same move every time we start,” Renjun muttered, dropping onto the ground heavily, the tendons of his kagune lancing forward to trip Ten who was trying to jump up and take another try. 

 

 The second tendon reached forward to grab Ten by the leg until the other ghoul’s kagune had sliced through it before he had the chance. Ten grinned like a cheshire cat, dodging the other tendon hurling towards him and the tendon smashing into the ground under him instead.

 

 “Hey no damaging the property!” Hansol called, his arms crossed as he watched the two.

 

 “Oops.” Ten snickered. 

 

 “Oh you fucker-“ Renjun cried, watching as his wounded tendon retracting back into his back to regenerate. Ten took it as the chance to spring up and start charging at Renjun once more with his spear-like kagune while he was distracted. But Renjun was faster. The ghoul growled, his winged kagune surrounding him, closing in on him and promptly defending him from Ten’s kagune like a shield. Ten continued attacking at the it anyways, trying to break through the wings.

 

 Renjun took it as a chance for his only rinkaku appendage left to start throwing blows at Ten’s kagune from the side, enough to break it, making him defenseless. Renjun grinned in satisfaction, retracting his koukaku and using his arms to press his hand against Ten’s chest and pushing him down onto the ground. He won.

 

 “This is hardly fair! Renjun literally has a stronger kagune, I could’ve been paired with Yuta at least! I can’t even use my electricity on the kid!” Ten whined as Renjun pulled himself off him with a satisfied smile, brushing off his pants. 

 

 Donghyuck sat there amazed, witnessing his first ghoul spar was beyond too cool for him to comprehend. Hansol had explained that they held these monthly meetings, instead of meeting about what kinds of cakes customers would like, sparring with each other to help control their abilities and use their kagunes properly and usefully if they ever had to use it to attack. 

 

 “Lele how did I do!” Renjun asked after he had shook Ten’s hand like they usually did as a ‘good job’ after sparring, running up to the shorter boy who held a permanent grin on his face. Chenle pulled Renjun into a tight hug, babbling about how cool Renjun looked and how amazing he did before blowing a raspberry to an offended Ten. 

 

 “Did you know about this?” Donghyuck asked, tugging the sleeve of Mark’s sweatshirt. The ghoul turned to look down at the younger then glancing at where he was pointing before shrugging,

 

 “I had no idea Renjun and Chenle even knew each other.”

 

 “Me neither..” Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what the relationship was between them. His question was quickly answered though when the two had rubbed their noses against each other affectionately. Donghyuck was flustered, witnessing such a private and tender moment between his co-worker and someone he barely knew. 

 

 Chenle walked up to him once more, greeting everyone and pulling Donghyuck along to introduce him to a sweaty Ten and Renjun. Jaemin had declined Chenle’s offer to meet the other two ghouls, silently praying to god and asking what Donghyuck had gotten himself into. 

 

 “Injun! Ten! This is my co-worker, Donghyuck I told you about!” Chenle announced, pushing Donghyuck forward who just waved. Renjun looked him up and down before turning his head silently, staring off at something else. Ten just smiled warmly at him, 

 

 “That’s Renjun’s way of saying ‘hello’, don’t worry he’ll warm up to you soon. I’m Ten, I usually take shifts here at night, so I’m not really around much.” Ten shifted in his spot, leaning forward to sniff the air around Donghyuck before asking, “What’s a human doing here watching our sparring today? Did Chenle invite you?”

 

 “Nah, I begged Mark to bring me here. I didn’t even know Chenle knew anyone here besides Mark,” Donghyuck nudged Chenle who just dumbly smiled up at him, “I’m interested in ghouls, I like learning about them and seeing more variety today really furthers my interest.”

 

 “Ooh,” Ten raised his eyebrows, he had never met a human who was actually interested in ghouls rather than be deathly afraid of them (like Jaemin was), “What did you think of the show then, kid?”

 

 “I thought it was so fucking _amazing_!” Donghyuck exclaimed, Ten and Renjun being taken aback, not being used to their abilities being praised rather than shamed, “Your kagune is so cool Ten, I’ve never seen one alive with electricity in them. And Renjun.. Your kagune is so beautiful!”

 

 Renjun’s eyes widened, he bashfully thanked Donghyuck and Ten had ruffled his hair, thanking him as well before Hansol read off a chart he held, calling off two names for the next spar. Donghyuck made two new friends to watch the next spar with. Mark had sat next to him still, nervous for his turn. 

 

 Yuta and Jeno were up next, of course Jaemin was petrified over the fact that his crush revealed himself to also be a ghoul but could also get hurt in the process of sparing with Yuta. He lost all his worries when Jeno had counter-attacked Yuta’s shards that shot out from the elder’s feather like kagune with his own purple drill-shaped kagune wrapped around his arm. 

 

 The shards bouncing off Jeno’s metallic kagune and towards Yuta instead. Jeno had won and Jaemin thought _maybe_ Jeno looked really cute when he was pummeling Yuta into the ground.  

 

 Finally was Mark and Hansol. Mark had been dreading his turn, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of Donghyuck’s eyes watching his every move. Especially with the fact that he had to spar with Hansol of all people, someone who knew all his weaknesses and knew what moves he would use to try and overtake the elder. But he also knew all of Hansol’s, so he _at least_ had a chance. Hansol was the one who had taught him how to properly use his abilities after all. 

 

 “I’ll try to go easy on you Mark,” Hansol said, watching Mark roll up the sleeves of his sweatshirt nervously. The younger shook his head, taking the familiar stance Renjun and Ten had done earlier. Hansol copied along, his eyes darting from Donghyuck’s figure to Mark’s, “You seem nervous. Is it because of the human?”

 

 “No. It’s fine, I’ll be fine.” Mark said firmly, biting his lip in annoyance. Why would Hansol ask him that? Now he was even more nervous, feeling his palms start sweating.

 

 “You’ll do great Mark! I’m cheering for you!” Donghyuck called from his spot between Jaemin and Ten. Mark felt his tension slowly wither away from Donghyuck’s encouraging words. His kagune shot out from his back from under his sweatshirt, multiple red tentacles appearing rather than his single one he would show Donghyuck. 

 

 Hansol rolled his neck. His kagune ripping from his waist, causing Yuta to wolf-whistle yelling ‘ _that’s my boyfriend’_. Instead of being red or purple like Mark’s or Yuta’s kagunes, his was a pulsing electric blue. It didn’t come out from his shoulder as opposed to Jeno’s but emerged from his tailbone. It was long and tail-like, similar to a snakes’  but at the end the tendon being split into two, almost like scissors. Mark’s kagune was ultimately weak against a _Bikaku_ user like Hansol. But he could still beat him.

 

 “Go!” Chenle called.

 

 Mark immediately shot forward with one of the appendages outstretching to grab Hansol by the leg but failed when Hansol had leaped and threw himself over Mark’s head and landing behind him with clenched fists. Mark gulped. Hansol was definitely _not_ going easy on him. And no doubt would he try to cut off Mark’s kagune to leave him defenseless and win in a second.

 

 “No way in _hell_.” Mark growled, gritting his teeth before turning on his heel, his kagune swiftly extending towards the other ghoul to trip him. Mark relied on the brute force of his rinkaku, three of the six appendages from his back grabbing obstacles Hansol had placed in case any of them wanted to go further a level and step it up a notch. The other three lunged towards Hansol’s capering feet.

 

 “Come on Mark,” Hansol huffed, his tailed kagune jerking forward and snipping towards the dodging tentacles, “I taught you better than this. Stop stalling.” 

 

 Mark grinned, Hansol didn’t realize he was stalling purposefully, so the elder would lose his stamina and Mark could weaken him by throwing an obstacle at him then pin him down easily. He wouldn’t use a dirty trick on the elder and slice his kagune. But Hansol was never a fair player against the younger. 

 

 “Oh shit-“ Mark cursed, Hansol’s kagune shot forward once more and the scissored ends were about to cut off the tip of his nearest kagune until Mark quickly liquified them, the tip falling off. He quickly hardened his kagune back so the tip regenerated. Hansol hummed in approval, somersaulting backwards when Mark’s kagune reached once more. 

 

 Their kagunes touched, the scissored end of Hansol’s being cut off every time one of the tentacles came forward and he would have to fight it off against his kagune. It was like a sword fight and it seemed like Hansol was running out of stamina at this point. But he pushed forward, taking the opportunity with Mark finally getting tired to snipe forward and one by one cut off the tips of Mark’s kagune. Immediately, Mark’s tentacles contracted back into his waist to regenerate. 

 

 Hansol’s kagune thrusted forward and pinned Mark against the ground, forcing him to lay there struggling for 10 seconds until ultimately winning in the end. They were both out of breath, sweat beading down their foreheads. 

 

 It was a strenuous spar, lasting about almost 20 minutes because of the amount of defensive attacks being used but Hansol had won. Said ghoul outstretched his hand towards Mark, who took it generously as he stood up tiredly,

 

 “Good job Mark. You did well today.” Hansol grinned, ruffling Mark’s wet hair. He wrinkled his nose noticing how sweat ridden ghoul was but still hugged him anyways, patting his back proudly.

 

 “Thanks Hansol.” Mark breathed, his heart racing when he noticed Donghyuck in the corner of his eye approaching him. Hansol let go of the younger ghoul, his eyes following Mark’s. Donghyuck high-fived the elder, congratulating him and complimenting his bikaku abilities before turning to Mark. His grin widened even more before he ran up to the elder to pull him into his arms,

 

 “You looked so cool out there Mark!” His eyes were shining in admiration when he had pulled away from the ghoul, not caring about how sweaty the ghoul was and continued to hug him, “I’ve never seen your kagune liquify itself and harden like that! That was amazing how you just shot out _six_ fuckin’ tentacles like that, like _what_!?”

 

 Mark looked down at the boy talking animatedly, his arms still wrapped around his waist as he continued to blab on about Mark being amazing, not mentioning his loss or making him feel bad for losing— just being supportive. He could only smile, ignoring the heat rising up to his cheeks when Donghyuck had called his kagune ‘ _pretty_ ’ and how Mark looked ‘kinda cute’ (in Donghyuck’s words) when he was determined. 

 

 “Are they always like that?” Ten asked, scaring Jaemin out of his wits when he appeared out of nowhere next to the human. Jaemin gulped, not being used to talking to ghouls besides Mark or Jeno but he still replied,

 

 “What do you mean?”

 

 “Like.. That.” Ten nodded his head over to the chinese couple currently chasing each other around with their kagunes until Renjun had pulled Chenle into his hold, wrapping his two tendons around the younger to pull him closer and gaze into his eyes lovingly, “They look at each other they’re the only two people on the planet. ‘S gross. Mark hasn’t looked that sappy in _years_.” 

 

 Jaemin couldn’t say he was lying when he felt a twinge of envy looking at the couples looking at each other so fondly (well, Renjun and Chenle.. he didn’t know what Mark and Donghyuck’s oblivious selves were doing, Yuta was bothering Hansol per usual but Hansol still looked at Yuta like he had robbed all the stars in the sky for him). 

 

 He wished it was he and Jeno looking at each other like that. But because of his undying fear of ghouls, it became a lot more difficult to talk to Jeno normally without tripping over his words and stuttering. He could barely look at the ghoul now without wanting to run away and hide. 

 

 “Woah, Jaem Jams. You look kinda constipated, the bathrooms downstairs,” Yuta pointed out, popping up behind Ten and causing Jaemin to scream. _Yuta fucking nicknamed him Jaem Jams._

 

 “It’s time for a 10 minute break!” Hansol called, clapping his hand and breaking the two pair’s mood much to their discontent, “Then we get straight back to sparring! Me and Yuta, Ten and Mark, Renjun and Jeno and Chenle you keep sitting there looking cute!”

 

 Mark and Donghyuck pulled away from each other frantically, they were _too_ close. Yet it didn’t stop them from lacing each other’s pinkies together when they sat next to each other as Hansol served them some coffee.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hansol, ten and renjun introduced!!! aNd sorry i didnt make yuwin happen in this fic.... i miss yusol [insert sad cowboy emoji]
> 
> for reference, to all my tg fans— hansol has nishiki’s kagune, renjun has hinami (ugh i could totally see someone as pretty as him have such a pretty kagune too lol) and ten has urie, jeno has tsukiyama, yuta has touka :D im sure u all know mark has kanekis by now. i havent explained chenles but he would have ayatos ! 
> 
> sorry if this chapter was bOriNg i had fun writing the fight scenes :p tell me what you think!!


	7. Chapter 7

 Mark was kind of pissed. He knew he shouldn’t take it to heart but his ghoul instincts have been acting up, flaring whenever his co-workers would say how soft he was getting since he’d met Donghyuck. Ten would treat him as if he was a child, telling him not to accidentally bite Donghyuck if it got too much for him. Renjun would always warn him with his eyes and Jeno.. Always just asked questions about Jaemin.

 

 Mark wouldn’t get angry when Donghyuck would tease him about being so sweet and not wanting to rip his face off like Yuta wanted to. It was fine if Donghyuck did it, he wasn’t a threat to Mark and he didn’t know Mark’s limits, but his friends  _did_.

 

 If ghouls had a ‘Ghoul Period’ then that was what Mark currently had. Every little thing was ticking him off. He knew he liked his newfound human friend but he just couldn’t help but get insecure over the fact that he wasn’t a very ‘good’ ghoul. He rarely got upset over the fact that he wasn’t a dick like most ghouls were, he took pride in it. But he took his friend’s opinions to heart.

 

 Yuta had called out to Mark on his break, the younger finishing his shift taken over by Renjun as he hung up his apron on a hook. Something inside Mark blew a fuse when Yuta’s harsh words crawled under Mark’s skin. 

 

 “Going off to see your dinner, Markkie-poo?”

 

 Mark lost it. He couldn’t quite pinpoint as to why he was so upset, either because Yuta had minimized Donghyuck to food instead of Mark’s friend or because of the constant teasing of being too soft. He didn’t care, he was just pissed. His blood red kagune burst out from his back and made a beeline towards Yuta to stab into his stomach angrily until it was cut off by the familiar bikakukagune of Hansol. 

 

 Mark hissed in annoyance, the tip of his tendon-like kagune was cut off by Hansol’s  tail-like one. 

 

 “Now what’s all this ruckus in here, boys? Mark why are you trying to stab Yuta?”

 

 Usually Hansol was the one to stop whatever fights broke out between the two boys, trying not to get either killed on the job when they could easily get caught if someone who wasn’t any of the employees came in. 

 

 The younger of the two just snarled, wanting to continue whatever fight he and Yuta had but Hansol’s kagune stopped the other tendon appearing from Mark’s back to attack Yuta. Cutting off the sharp tip easily. Mark would regenerate his kagune later, it was fine for Hansol to snip at it. They’d done this many times before. 

 

 “ _Mark_ ,” He pressed, his kagune swiping up and pushing Mark against the wall so he couldn’t try to hurt either of them, “What’s up? You look like you’re about to pop a vessel.” 

 

 “Let me go and I’ll answer to what your stupid boyfriend did this time!” Mark wasn’t thrashing in Hansol’s hold but was rather still annoyed with the fact that Hansol had to interrupt his plan to stab Yuta. Yuta couldn’t regenerate as fast as Mark could but he wouldn’t die from Mark piercing his kagune through his stomach, it’d just hurt like a bitch.

 

 Hansol let go of the younger ghoul, Mark let out an ‘ _oof_ ’ when he dropped onto the wooden floor suddenly. Mark knew better than to continue to go against Hansol when it wasn’t time to spar. He stood up, brushing his black dress pants off then glared at the ghoul across from him. 

 

 “Tell him to keep his mouth shut about Donghyuck or I’ll fucking kill him.”

 

 “Donghyuck? The human kid you’re hanging around these days?” Hansol recalled, he had talked to Donghyuck a few times, it was only during their sparring day but he got along with him. He was a nice boy from what he could tell, Mark’s demeanor had been happier lately because of him. It seemed he’s grown more hostile towards Yuta when it came to the human. 

 

 “Why does it matter? It’s just the truth. I bet he would’ve tasted so sweet that night. I could imagine his screams as I devour him.” Yuta dug deeper into Mark’s skin, knowing how much it bothered him when he spoke about humans as if they were only food. Especially Donghyuck, “You should keep a better eye on him Mark.”

 

 “Yuta knock it off.” Hansol sighed, it was like he was dealing with two preschoolers trying to stab each other with crayons, “Shouldn’t you be in the front right now? Get your ass up. Your breaks over.”

 

 Hansol was understandably upset now. His boyfriend acted as if Hansol wasn’t half human at times, still being able to be targeted by ghouls if he wasn’t careful enough. It was hard for him too since his scent towards ghouls was more human than ghoulish. Yuta knew he fucked up when Hansol spoke to him so harshly and wouldn’t even look at him. He glared at Mark as he walked out the door, slamming it behind him with no apology. 

 

 

 

 

 Hansol had asked Mark if he was  _okay_  after his outburst towards his co-worker, Mark promptly ignored him and stalked off to pick up Donghyuck from school like he promised. He knew he should’ve just bailed, tell Donghyuck he wasn’t feeling well since he’s had a lot of pent up anger. But like an idiot thinking seeing Donghyuck would help calm him down just a bit, it just angered him even more. 

 

 “What’s up Ghoul Boy?” Donghyuck called, rushing out of the campus to wrap an arm around Mark’s tense shoulders. The ghoul’s eyes frantically looked around to see if anyone heard the human but no one paid any mind to them, “Today was so annoying!”

 

 “Nothing much,” He lied, noticing a sunflower tucked between his ear at the corner of his face that wasn’t there earlier the morning he dropped him off, “What happened?”

 

 Donghyuck first went on a rant about how his teacher had lost his essay, accusing Donghyuck of not turning it in and saying Donghyuck was lying about turning it in even though he had it backed up on his computer. He still received it as a missing assignment much to his discontent.

 

 He then told Mark about the flower laying prettily on his ear, he plucked it up from the grass area when he was heading to his final class. He assured Mark that he cleaned off all the creepy crawlies on the flower and thought it looked cute on him. The ghoul silently agreed in his head.

 

 “Mark, you’re quiet today.” Donghyuck commented, nudging the ghoul’s arm as they walked through the empty sidewalk, the occasional car passing by, nearing the intersection between their neighborhoods.

 

 “I’m fine. Just Yuta being annoying as always.”

 

 “What did he say?” 

 

 “Nothing.” 

 

 “Hey are you sure you’re okay?” Donghyuck was worried now. Mark had never been so unresponsive to him and he wanted to make sure his friend was okay. But he knew he pushed his luck too far until Mark froze, he touched his arm gently, “ _Mark_..?”

 

 “Fine!” Mark snapped, causing Donghyuck to jump in his spot, “If you want to know so bad,  _you’re_  what’s wrong with me! I’m just seen as a joke to people of my species since I haven’t tried to eat you yet because instead I’m here having to listen to your pathetic jokes and trying to befriend you.”

 

 “What..” Donghyuck looked hurt. Mark’s eyes cast down, trying not to break and look at the human. He didn’t want to feel guilty for hurting him, it was already enough to bear to look at the hurt expression on Donghyuck’s face. He knew it was better this way than to continue this friendship, knowing if he continued this it would evolve into something more complicated. 

 

 Mark was already so protective of him, who knew what else he could develop if he let himself grow closer to him.

 

 “You’re always going to be food to me, Donghyuck. You’re nothing but a way for me to live.” He seethed unconsciously, he was shocked at his own words but he couldn’t stop, “Leave before I do what I should’ve done a long time ago.” 

 

 “You don’t mean that..” Donghyuck said, knowing better than to approach Mark if he was upset. He touched Mark’s arm again until he suddenly felt himself sliding across the sidewalk. He gasped, his back hitting the ground, watching Mark snarl at him with his kagune pointing towards him. He looked to see his poor little sunflower had fallen off him and laid next to Mark. 

 

 For the first time, he was horrified of Mark. 

 

 Donghyuck, despite his aching back, stood up and ran in the opposite direction of the angry ghoul. 

 

 “Donghyuck wait..” The ghoul weakly called, suddenly realizing what he’d done. His kagune retracted into his waist again, watching Donghyuck continue running. He didn’t turn to look at Mark once.

 

 He hadn’t meant to blow up on Donghyuck. He was just angry, with himself and Yuta. It wasn’t an excuse to let out steam on his friend but it made him feel extremely terrible when Donghyuck flashed him a look of horror for the first time since they’ve known each other. 

 

 ‘ _You got what you wanted didn’t you?_ ’ A little voice in the back of Mark’s head reminded him. But why did it feel like he was stabbed multiple times in the stomach when Donghyuck looked so afraid of him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for 2k views <33


	8. Chapter 8

 “Why so glum Hyuck?” Chenle asked one night, taking another sip of his coffee for the hundredth time tonight as he watched Donghyuck give attitude to everyone the whole day. Donghyuck snapped at 2 different people today while scanning rolls of paper towels and bug repellent. 

 

 Donghyuck didn’t tell anyone what happened between he and Mark. He didn’t want anyone to think differently of the other boy because he blew up on him. It was Donghyuck’s fault for prying. If he told Jaemin the reason his back ached so much was because Mark had thrown him across the sidewalk on the way home, he would freak. He had every right to. 

 

 Maybe Donghyuck was just very protective of Mark no matter what.

 

 Although all that happened, he didn’t blame Mark at all. He was supposed to honestly, he should be trying to erase all thoughts of the ghoul from his head, not going near the café anymore and should be horrified at the thoughts of ghouls by now. He’d been physically hurt by _two_ now. 

 

 Donghyuck would never be scared of Mark, no matter what he did to him. It just wasn’t in his system to do so. But when Mark had hurt him, it triggered a bad memory in Donghyuck’s mind and he had just thought Mark was someone else. It wasn’t the ghoul’s fault at all.

 

 “‘M fine.” Donghyuck muttered, grabbing Chenle’s coffee from the ghoul’s hands and outright taking a few gulps much to the other ghoul’s discontent. It was too bitter for Donghyuck, he liked sweeter coffee with vanilla and smidgens of sugar. Not straight up black like ghouls had to drink it, “Just thinking about how I died after 30 seconds in Fortnite earlier on my break.” 

 

 “Man, for a guy that really likes playing that game you kinda suck,” Chenle pointed out, snatching his cup of coffee from Donghyuck’s hands with a frown, “No seriously, what’s up buttercup? You haven’t spoke to Mark in like forever.” 

 

 The elder just sighed, his eyes not meeting Chenle’s own. He didn’t want to tell the younger what had happened. Even though Chenle could probably understand why Mark had done it, _maybe_. But then he’d tell Renjun, who’d tell Ten, who’d tell Yuta until it all ended on Mark to ask the question ‘ _why_?’ without Donghyuck actually asking.

 

 “I thought Mr. Kim didn’t want you near the registers. Why are you here?”

 

 “Mr. Kim doesn’t trust me with _working_ the register anymore.” The younger corrected, leaning against the countertop, “Renjun doesn’t either, only because Mr. Kim called him and said somehow I managed to break 3 machines just by touching it.” 

 

 “Which you _did_.”

 

 “Which I did.” Chenle confirmed before squinting at the human suspiciously. He could tell Donghyuck was hiding something, Donghyuck always hid something when he avoided questions. ‘ _Fine,’_ the ghoul thought, ‘ _I’ll just get it out of him.’_  

 

 Chenle’s hand reached over, his index finger pointing towards Donghyuck until it reached his arm. He poked Donghyuck. Not once or twice. But _numerously_. 

 

 “Are you gonna stop?”

 

 “No. I’m very nosey and I want to know what happened.” Chenle beamed, “You’re avoiding the question.”

 

 “Oh look here comes another customer-“ Donghyuck tried to detach himself from the conversation again but Chenle was faster,

 

 “I didn’t hear the bell ring.” The younger tutted, shaking his head with his hands on his hips now. Donghyuck scowled, he’d rip out Chenle’s green hairs if he could, maybe even say he looks like Shrek, but that was an insult he’d use for another time.

 

“If we get fired because we’re talking about my friendship problems instead of doing something productive I’m _so_ gonna turn you over to the CCG.”

 

 Chenle just nodded, waddling off into the backroom to grab a chair and place it in front of the counter then promptly put his elbows on top. He looked up at Donghyuck with a broad smile. Urging him to go on. 

 

 “I like him Chenle.” Donghyuck sighed loudly, pressing his hands against his cheeks in annoyance, “I’ve known for such a long time but he’s so _complicated_ -“

 

 

 “Are you sure you guys weren’t already dating?” A bewildered Chenle blurted. Donghyuck could only let out another exasperated breath before slamming his head against the counter. 

 

 Chenle panicked, screeching trying to pick up Donghyuck’s heavy head and checking frantically if he was bruising. Panicky questions like ‘ _Are you okay?_ ’ ‘ _Was I wrong?_ ’ ‘ _Donghyuck blink if you’re okay- Wait no, how many fingers am I holding up?’._

 The boy sat up mechanically, scaring Chenle. Donghyuck continued,

 

 “No. We were never dating, no matter how touchy we were,” He pouted now, “I’ve liked him since his first sparring match. I don’t know what suddenly made my mind just click, maybe because he looked hot when he was focused? Maybe because he’s so nice to me and never judges me, or maybe how remorseful he is when he does a small thing wrong when it comes to me..” 

 

 Chenle sat there, his eyebrows squinting as he was in thought. Donghyuck was starting to rant about the reasons he liked Mark, going from how he reciprocates his skinship though with a stupid shy smile on his face, how Mark was so careful with him and actively always makes sure he’s safe. Or how Mark’s eyes sparkled with and without his kakugan activated, or how Mark had a few moles here and there he liked to poke-

 

 “So you haven’t told him?” Chenle cut off Donghyuck’s blusters about Mark but Chenle was getting kind of grossed out. He was happy his co-worker was showing interest in someone besides Jaemin or his books on ghouls these days. 

 

 “Of course not,” Donghyuck’s voice was softer now, “I don’t want to ruin anything we have now, especially with the fact that I’m a whole human and he’s a ghoul.”

 

 “Don’t you usually put that aside anyways even as friends?” Chenle said, obviously exasperated from Donghyuck’s excuse, “What’s stopping you now then man? Have you not seen how Mark looks at you? Like you’re the cutest thing he’s ever seen or some shit! He’s always smiling like a fool around you, Hyuck. Everyone can see it except you two apparently.”

 

 

 Donghyuck was surprised to say in the least. Did Mark really reciprocate his feelings? Did he know or has he not figured it out?

 

 “Yeah but.. I know he wouldn’t want to go through with it. Uh,” Donghyuck cleared his throat, “The only reason we aren’t talking is because he blew up on me a few weeks ago when I asked what was wrong since he looked sorta mad. He said I was just food to him. And that he was a fool for even befriending me. I know he didn’t mean it but-“

 

 “I want you to smack him the next time you see him,” Chenle groaned, rubbing his hand against his face, “I get that he was probably pissed or something but damn is he an _idiot_.”

 

 Chenle never said mean things about anyone, he had a similar personality to Donghyuck’s when he was always shaking from coffee. So hearing Chenle sober from coffee calling Mark an idiot made the human smile. 

 

 “Yeah he’s kind of dumb isn’t he? I think he feels bad but he’s ignoring me.” Donghyuck exhaled, “I haven’t come in to the shop since I slid across the ground and hurt my back.”

 

 “The _hell_?” Chenle snapped, standing up from his seat with his face scrunched up, “Mark was the cause of that? Donghyuck how the hell do you even..”

 

 “It’s fine!” Donghyuck assured, “He didn’t mean it.. He’s never done that before I’m sure he was just feeling confused at the time. I know him, Chenle, he’d never purposefully hurt me.” 

 

 The ghoul seemed apprehensive about this thought. He didn’t want to think about his co-worker, who wasn’t the strongest person and Mark alongside his temper, who was four times stronger than him. Donghyuck was too forgiving when it comes to these kinds of things.

 

 “Only if you’re sure..” 

 

 “Of course I am, I wouldn’t hesitate to knock his teeth out if he did it again,” Donghyuck laughed heartily, “I’m completely sure he’d never do that again, that’s why I’m letting it go, you know I won’t let anyone treat me like that on purpose.” 

 

 “Maybe,” Chenle contemplated, thinking about times where Donghyuck was taken advantage of, which was very rare in hindsight, “When you dated Wendy and she started flirting with people around you, then went back to you as if she didn’t do anything. Then when she started hitting you when you didn’t give her what she wanted. You just confronted her you guys obviously weren’t happy with each other and broke up with her immediately. Didn’t even give her a chance to explain herself.”

 

 “See? I know what I’m getting myself into. Sure, Mark is.. different but in a good way. Though it doesn’t justify his actions I’ll still confront him about it.” Donghyuck said, “I’m going to talk to him next time I see him. And I’ll tell him how I feel.” 

 

 “I’m glad, Hyuc-“

 

 “ _Chenle_ what did I say about being near the register? We can’t just get another one out of thin air you know! And why is there a chair in front of the counter?”

 

 Mr.Kim came out of the restroom nagging the younger like he usually did to the younger employees. Chenle just grinned sheepishly at his friend before grabbing the chair and zooming off into the backroom with Mr.Kim hot on his tail. 

 

 Donghyuck just let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding before attending to a customer appearing in front of the counter. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for 200 kudos! i apologize for this chapter being rushed and all over the place, i really wanted to get it over with ;; but! im updating tomorrow instead of tuesday so! :)


	9. Chapter 9

 Something in Mark changed since he started ignoring Donghyuck. He was mopey, regretting his words every second of the day as he looked at the dying sunflower in his hands. His mind was always thinking about the human, even when he wasn’t trying to. He looked at the sun, Donghyuck. He saw a book on ghouls in the library, Donghyuck. The color orange, Donghyuck. Seeing Jaemin sit alone trying to talk to Jeno, Donghyuck. Sunflowers, Donghyuck.

 

 He just wanted to see the human again. He had gotten too attached when he didn’t mean to. Mulling over how he made a grand mistake by hurting Donghyuck the way he did and he regretted thinking their friendship would never work out.

 

 Yuta had apologized to him, not because Hansol made him but because he felt bad always wanting to rile up the younger ghoul. Mark begrudgingly accepted his apology, though he didn’t want to because of what he said about Donghyuck. He knew Donghyuck would want him to accept it anyways.

 

 He had pondered to himself the past week he hadn’t seen Donghyuck. Wondering why he was so protective over the human, why he enjoyed holding his hand and feeling warm whenever Donghyuck had hugged him or seemed amazed at his abilities. Mark would always think Donghyuck was more amazing than he thought he was. The ghoul’s abilities didn’t mean jackshit to him compared to Donghyuck’s. 

 

 Donghyuck was the epitome of sunshine and happiness. He’d just have to breathe and anyone would instantly be in a good mood. The boy never realized it himself but he was good at making people feel at ease with him or open up to him. His eccentric but odd personality was endearing. That was how Mark had easily accepted the younger into his life. He was kind, accepting and didn’t care about whether or not anyone was of a different species. He’d befriended his co-workers Ten and Renjun during sparring day like they were just any other person. Not ghouls.

 

 Donghyuck was different, he saw everyone the same and believed everyone had at least one good bone in their body. Mark chastised him for it a lot, telling him not to befriend random ghouls because he thought they weren’t bad people.

 

 Donghyuck shrugged, saying he befriended Mark and he turned out to be harmless. Mark was about to explain how it was different but chose to not say anything. Donghyuck was Donghyuck and Mark just had to keep an extra eye on him so he wouldn’t get hurt. 

 

 That’s when he started accompanying Donghyuck to work and to school. He didn’t want to see the human get hurt for his own carefree personality, sometimes Mark would tone it down a bit on looking over the human. Donghyuck was capable of taking care of himself but Mark was beginning to understand why Jaemin would always be so worried about him. He didn’t know the whole reason why but he’d understood at least half of the reason. 

 

 Then came the skinship part. Donghyuck had started occasionally holding Mark’s hand sometimes. He’d back-hug him sometimes or would cuddle into Mark with his multiple tendons from his _rinkaku_ wrapped around Donghyuck as well.

 

 Mark wouldn’t pull away but would ask Donghyuck, ‘ _Aren’t only people dating supposed to do these things? Isn’t it weird for me to hugging you with practically four arms?_ ’. Donghyuck shrugged, saying he thought it was okay and it was comfortable anyways. 

 

 Sometimes Donghyuck would hold his hand on the way to school, to work, back home. He’d always pull away when Jaemin was near though. Mark didn’t know what to think of the human’s best friend, Jaemin was just afraid of him because of his species. He understood, but Donghyuck always tried to have Jaemin warm up to his ghoul friends anyways.

 

 Mark never really knew how to deal with these kinds of things, his conflicting feelings towards the human, using his abilities more than he usually did, all of this being new to him since he’d learn to keep himself in control to lead a normal life. 

 

 He was isolated half of his life, his parents hiding away from the CCG until they’d made Mark run away at 14 when they’d finally infiltrated their home. He never saw his parents again after that. Assuming they were turned into _quinques,_ weapons the CCG used against ghouls. It wasn’t uncommon for ghoul children to lose their parents, though Mark was prepared for it. He had to be. 

 

 Mark was still determined to live normally, not giving into his rebellious ghoul instincts even after his parents were taken. He’d found the Dream Café one day, roaming around hungry since he was young and couldn’t control his hunger well enough. He’d ordered a large coffee with money his parents had given him before they disappeared. Hansol, 19 at the time, his parents still around before they had retired and given the café to Hansol, had noticed the tired, scrawny Mark sipping at his drink from the far corner of the shop. 

 

 Hansol took Mark under his wing and was his mentor, taking Jeno in soon afterwards when Mark’d found the boy feasting off another ghoul. Ten and Yuta came later, though, ghouls applying for a job to keep them from being found out until Yuta took interest in Hansol, who was too busy trying to teach Jeno how to properly use a coffee machine without miraculously making it explode. 

 

 Renjun, their quiet co-worker who had came around the same time as them, was Mark’s first sort-of crush because he was attractive and his kagune was pretty. Long story short Mark really wasn’t Renjun’s type and he friend-zoned Mark quick.

 

 In the end, Mark would rather people think of him as a human rather than a ghoul, sometimes wishing he was born human than ghoul. He didn’t like interacting with humans, thinking they’d look straight past his cover every time he’d taken their orders. 

 

 He was close to giving up at one point, thinking he should rebel and be what humans perceived ghouls to be. Until Hansol told him just to be himself, telling him it’s fine to be the way he is. It’s not his fault he was born a ghoul, he’d done nothing wrong, he knew Mark was a good boy who’d never hurt someone purposely. 

 

 Donghyuck treated him normally, as if he was just his friend rather than either human or ghoul. He would sometimes still be in awe of Mark’s abilities but he’d just compliment him or sometimes hug his kagune just to get his attention. It was.. _Cute_  to Mark. His first human friend was all kinds of cute. He’d started taking more risks being friends with Donghyuck.

 

 Sometimes Donghyuck would ask Mark to use his kagune so he could look at it properly, the red reflection in his eyes when he admired his kagune, calling it  _pretty_  always made Mark feel good about himself. 

 

 The more he thought about Donghyuck while being away from him, the more he started noticing. Donghyuck wore eyeliner sometimes, it was subtle and Mark couldn’t tell until he vividly remembered moments they’ve had together where Donghyuck’s face was too close for comfort. Along with his memories, there were also pictures the younger would make Mark take on his phone he rarely touched besides texting Donghyuck or quick texts to Jeno telling him to turn off his heavy metal music. 

 

 Donghyuck told him, as friends they should take at least some pictures together as memories. Mark didn’t really take pictures of himself so he was wary until Donghyuck convinced him. There was one image in particular Mark never paid much mind to, it was Donghyuck puckering his lips, holding the camera and turning to a stoic Mark pushing his lips away from him. Mark noticed, Donghyuck had moles on the side of his cheek. 

 

 They were sitting on top of the café’s flat rooftop, Mark suggested to have lunch there one day during his break when Donghyuck came around. Donghyuck had told him he had moles that formed into the Ursa Minor, Jaemin had told him since he was more into astronomy than he was. 

 

 He pointed to Mark’s afterwards, saying they formed a triangle, pointing to one on his cheek then two on his neck across from each other. He said he had to ask Jaemin later if Mark’s formed any too besides a triangle. Mark didn’t even _know_ he had any moles besides the one on his cheek. 

 

 Donghyuck was also.. Pretty. A blush rose on Mark’s cheeks when he realized he thought his friend was actually very attractive. He usually didn’t care about how anyone looked, some people would be okay looking but noticing Donghyuck being pretty himself made his cheeks heat up. The only person he’d ever thought of that way was Renjun and he rejected him fast.

 

 “Mark.” Speaking of the devil, Renjun’s voice snapped into Mark’s Donghyuck infested thoughts, “Can you bring the mop over to Jeno to clean the mess at counter 3? Someone spilled their hot chocolate all over the floor.”

 

 Mark nodded, walking to the backroom to grab the mop and bright yellow cart filled with water that had a stick figure in a pose indicating it tripped over water painted across the front of the cart. Mark wished that was him. 

 

 He arrived to the scene only to see the familiar orange bunch of hair sticking up in all directions, back turned towards Jeno who was apologizing profusely. Mark felt his chest tighten. When Donghyuck turned around to find Mark staring at the back of his head it all felt like a romcom anime. 

 

 Sparkles, pink background, violins playing in the back. Donghyuck’s narrowed shiny eyes along with Jeno being confused as Mark was frozen like a statue gripping onto the mop handle. Suddenly all his thoughts he’d been mulling over the past few weeks collided into one.

 

_Ah_. It hit Mark like a train. _I like Donghyuck_.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dialogue heavy and some revelations

 Mark’s crush on Donghyuck physically hurt him. Like seriously, Jaemin, who was hiding  behind Donghyuck, grabbed the mop Mark was holding and started to repeatedly hit the handle against Mark’s head, screaming profanities. 

 

 The scene gained attention from the other patrons in the café, Yuta and Renjun watching in amusement before Jeno had grabbed Jaemin away from Mark. Jeno took the mop away from him, letting him go as he started to clean up the hot chocolate mess none other than Jaemin caused.

 

 “I’ll just.. Go..” Mark cleared his throat, rubbing his head, turning on his heels until he felt a tugging at his apron. He squeezed his eyes hoping it was just a kid asking how much the cupcakes cost. The ghoul turned to see the familiar of orange hair of Donghyuck invading his vision. He looked down to see Donghyuck’s annoying smile.

 

 “Mark!” 

 

 “Hyuck.. I..” Mark fumbled with his words, ready to spew out a bunch of apologies to the younger boy until he stopped himself, watching Donghyuck’s smile slowly turn into a frown. 

 

 “Let’s go somewhere private, yeah?”

 

 Mark could only nod.

 

 They walked to Donghyuck’s house in awkward silence, it was Mark’s first time over and he was sure if Jaemin found out he would have his head. When he entered, his frightened eyes melted into a soft gaze when he looked around the apartment, 

 

 “It’s just like you..” 

 

 “Right. Jaemin helped.” Donghyuck smiled, pulling Mark along into his bedroom and shutting the door behind him. Mark also noticed Donghyuck was really messy, thrown clothes everywhere, many books on the anatomy of ghouls, ghoul picture books, ghoul info books and many more related things to his species. It seemed Donghyuck really _was_ a fanatic. 

 

 “Sorry..” He seemed embarrassed of being caught, “I didn’t really.. Expect you to ever come over.”

 

 They didn’t speak for awhile, deciding to sit down on Donghyuck’s bed with his covers messily thrown to the side. The boy had his legs crossed across his chest, not sure of how to start. It’s only been two weeks since they last spoke, not a whole 10 years. But he couldn’t find it in himself to speak first.

 

 “Donghyuck.. I’m sorry. I really am,” Mark choked out, he ruffled his hair in frustration, “I didn’t mean to do that. I was just .. angry.”

 

 “It’s okay Mark. I forgave you a long time ago.” Donghyuck assured him but Mark felt like it wasn’t enough. Donghyuck deserved more than a mere shitty excuse of an apology Mark gave him.

 

 “I-It’s not!” He yelled out suddenly, Donghyuck’s eyes widened and he looked taken aback. Mark lowered himself, hoping Donghyuck got the message that he didn’t mean it. He _never_ meant it whenever he got upset at him. Donghyuck just half smiled, “I’m sorry.. Again. I just.. I was so mad at my friends. Which I shouldn’t have been, it’s my own fault for not telling them I was uncomfortable. But I ended up taking it out on you just because you were worried about it me, I was an ass and I’m sorry for _literally_ pushing you away like that.”

 

 “It’s okay. You made a mistake.” The human slowly repeated again, his answer was never going to change. 

 

 “But it’s.. I was acting like a shitty friend, shouldn’t you hate me because I did such a fucked up thing?” His eyes were frantic and sad. 

 

 “I’d never hate you Mark.” Donghyuck said, reaching and holding Mark’s hand to comfort him. Mark felt nasty, he didn’t deserve Donghyuck’s kindness after treating him like he did. 

 

 “But.. My species have done such shitty things to you. How you can forgive us so easily, you don’t deserve-“

 

 “Mark, I was raised by a ghoul.” Donghyuck cut him off, the atmosphere growing tense. The ghoul in front of him looked at him in disbelief, the human continued anyways, “That’s why I’m not really afraid of them and try to understand them more.. His name was Jaehyun.. He raised me since I was a toddler until I saw him get murdered by his own kind in front of me.” 

 

 “Hyuck..”

 

 “I don’t even remember why my parents gave me to him,” Donghyuck confessed, “I just remembered my hand being passed to Jaehyun one day then my dad telling him to take care of me with his life. 

 

 But now that I think about how Jaehyun talked about my dad, saying how I gained the ‘stupid-puns-gene’ from him, I think they had a thing for each other at some point. Pretty tragic if you ask me.”

 

  _Sometimes Jaehyun couldn’t even look at Donghyuck because he looked more like his mother than his father._

 

 “Why..” Mark winced, thinking about how Donghyuck’s father was a human who was in love with a ghoul but in the end, but they didn’t end up happily with each other. It made the ghoul start feeling weary about ever telling Donghyuck his feelings for him. He didn’t ask any further about Jaehyun, it seemed too personal.

 

 Donghyuck had gone through so much with losing both his parents and his guardian. It was no wonder he built up such an eccentric front to help him cope. Mark just wanted to give him a hug to tell him it was okay if he ended up crying. But it never came. 

 

 “It’s fine, I know what you’re thinking! Why don’t I just hate ghouls since so much has been taken away from me because of them.” The human traced circles on the fabric under him, “I’m not a bitter person. I learned to love because of Jaehyun. Even though he had _his_ love taken from him, and had to take care of the product of what he could have had with my dad, he still taught me to love and not hold grudges. That’s how I know, not all ghouls are alike.”

 

 Donghyuck was quiet for a minute, before ending up speaking again, “Jaehyun could have killed me out of spite, you know, if ghouls were just as horrible as humans described them to be,” His voice cracked but he didn’t dare cry, “He was the first ghoul I ever met, not you or Yuta. I just grew more interested in them after Jaehyun died and wanted to meet someone who wasn’t like him and I wanted to learn to befriend someone so different than him.” 

 

  “I’m sorry.” Mark grimaced. He couldn’t find it in him to smile at Donghyuck’s fond memories. It wasn’t so crazy how Donghyuck managed to understand, look through the prejudice against ghouls and know not all ghouls want to be monsters. His heart was too big to hate anyone. 

 

 That’s how he excused Mark’s actions, he knew Mark wasn’t a horrible person and understood the toll being friends with someone like Donghyuck would take on either of them. In fear of exposing Mark, in fear of being a prey to Mark. The cruel world didn’t deserve such a pure soul like Lee Donghyuck.

 

 “Uh.. Well, I don’t want to make this weird but, I lost both my parents too. They were captured by the CCG.” The ghoul muttered, it felt awkward to say it out loud. But Donghyuck still held his hand, squeezing it tightly, encouraging him to go on if he wanted to. “Hansol’s basically like my third parent. He took me and Jeno in, taught us how to live normally as if we were humans and behind the scenes teach us to use our abilities properly. Plus learning how to make caramel macchiatos and all that.” 

 

 “I’m sorry, I’m sure your parents were good people.” There he went again, wearing his heart on his sleeve. 

 

 “I don’t.. understand how you can be so kind about these things, since many humans refuse to look past our diets and don’t try to understand we don’t want to be monsters.” Mark sighed, squeezing Donghyuck’s hand back finally. He felt nervous, he knew he shouldn’t start saying anything so righteous after hearing about what happened to Jaehyun and the human’s father— yet he went ahead and said it, “Maybe that’s why I ended up liking you so much. Thank you for forgiving me.”

 

 Mark’s heart pounded in his chest when Donghyuck went quiet again. _Did he mess up? Did he read Donghyuck’s actions wrong? Was Donghyuck going to run away? Would he laugh at him? Would he-_

 

 “When you say ‘liking you so much’ do you mean..” Donghyuck’s cheeks were now a pretty pink, this was Mark’s first time seeing Donghyuck so flustered it made him smile a little. Mark started feeling more confident now, _maybe_ Donghyuck returned his feelings. 

 

 “Your cheeks are as pink as Jaemin’s hair.” Mark quipped, making Donghyuck lean forward and gently smack his arm, “Of course I mean it that way, Hyuck. I mean, this whole week all I’ve been thinking about was you. Everything reminded me of you and it drove me crazy. I like you so much even if I’m not supposed to!”

 

 He sounded exasperated but Donghyuck knew he meant well. He smiled shyly, Mark’s words warming his heart as he moved his body forward to catch the ghoul off guard and peck him on the lips lightly. Mark screeched, throwing himself backwards in surprise. Donghyuck just laughed,

 

 “I feel the same way, Ghoul Boy. I like you too so you better treat me well or Jaemin and I will beat you up.” Donghyuck mocked punching his fist into his hand, “But of course. If you throw me like that again I probably won’t forgive you again and ignore you for a month but like, we’re cool now.” 

 

 “So now you’re my boyfriend?” Mark asked, scrambling up quickly from his fallen position to look at the human again. _Ah he moves fast_ , Donghyuck rolled his eyes, grabbing the sides of Mark’s face and promptly kissing him again. This time a bit longer just to prove his point. It was slow, more meaningful and this time, he knew what he was feeling when touching him so intimately. The human pulled away after a few more seconds with a loud smack, 

 

 “Does that answer your question?”

 

 Mark, in a daze, replied,

 

 “Yes.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok yes im sorry donghyuck and mark have such sad backstories FFFDHS and u can guess who donghyucks dad was uvu; the next chapter,, some angst again im sorry but not between markhyuck


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw some explict scenes at some point + another sad backstory but markhyuck at the end makes up for it hh

  _Ghouls and humans were not meant to be together and love one another romantically_. 

 

 Jaehyun and Taeyong learned it the hard way. 

 

 Jaehyun had met Taeyong one day when they ran into each other, like some sort of scripted drama, and Taeyong’s scalding hot chocolate flew onto Jaehyun’s lap. The ghoul, Jaehyun, had seen one look of Taeyong’s petrified expression and suddenly doubled over, pretending to be hurt by the boiling sensation. 

 

 Jaehyun knew Taeyong was thinking the ghoul was going to scream at him for throwing coffee all over him. Instead, Jaehyun opted to pretend to be hurt instead. Even though the pain was nothing, he didn’t feel a thing when the drink had spilled on him. 

 

 He had  _purposely_  made the situation happen, bumping into Taeyong pretending he was reading his forgotten hard-cover book tossed to the side when he doubled over. The smell of chocolate on his clothes sickened him but he liked the attention a frantic Taeyong gave him. 

 

 Jaehyun had been eyeing Taeyong for awhile, the human was in his biology class, sitting only a few seats away from him but Taeyong was such good eye-candy Jaehyun couldn’t help it. With his sculpted cheekbones, brushed back firey-red hair and thick eyebrows, a slit across one of them. 

 

 His eyes were a stark contrast from the rest of his face, big and doe-eyed. He was even smart, always participating and being on top of everything. He was perfect and Jaehyun was craving just to touch him. 

 

 Taeyong offered to pay for his dry cleaning, apologizing profusely. For such an intimidating looking man, he was a soft-hearted puppy. Those were the words that had gotten Taeyong whipped by Jaehyun, wrapped around his finger in a jiffy. It wasn’t just the deep dimples in his squishy pale cheeks, light slicked back blonde hair, a few strands from the sides peeking out and the warmest handsome eyes. Jaehyun had such a way with words. 

 

 At first, Jaehyun was planning to just lure the man in, get in his pants then leave. Taeyong proved to be more than that in a matter of one conversation Jaehyun held with him the morning after. Jaehyun found Taeyong to be a very kind and caring person, Taeyong thought Jaehyun was kind of weird but funny and charming.

 

 They started dating after two months of knowing each other. Pining until they had confessed to each other at the same time. It was a sweet moment for both of them, kissing each other on the spot like they were supposed to and live happily ever after. That is, if they were able to do it in public instead of being on Jaehyun’s uncomfortable couch one night after playing yahtzee. 

 

 Sometimes Jaehyun would eat human food in front of Taeyong, trying to swallow it down as he practiced before making himself vomit it out when Taeyong had left. Being cautious of telling the human he grew to love his true identity.

 

 Jaehyun had told Taeyong he was a ghoul after 5 months. Taeyong did not feel betrayed, he wasn’t even close to being afraid of his own boyfriend. Though it stung to think of how Jaehyun lied to him for 7 months, he felt more compelled to Jaehyun. 

 

 His heart hurt to think of a life without the ghoul, he would not listen to warnings of ghouls nor the threat of becoming Jaehyun’s snack. Not even denying Jaehyun’s request to move into his apartment. 

 

 He’d watch the younger man zip along top of buildings, running around and leaping up in the air, catapulting off what he called his kagune before landing on his feet in front of an amazed Taeyong. Sometimes Taeyong would admire the strange snake-like tendon, running his hand across it and feeling when Jaehyun would either harden or soften the material. 

 

 He was interested in knowing more about his kind. Prodding the younger with questions on what types of kagunes there were, their advantages and disadvantages, if humans and ghouls could procreate and have children.

 

 “Hey, Jaehyunnie.” Taeyong giggled, engulfed in Jaehyun’s arms on the small couch in their shared apartment, he leaned over to poke the ghoul’s deep dimple, “What’s a ghoul’s favorite drink?”

 

 “I don’t know, Tae, what?” Jaehyun rolled his eyes, preparing himself for his boyfriend’s terrible answer. 

 

 “ _Ghoul-Aid!_ ” Taeyong started laughing, slapping his knees at his own joke. Jaehyun couldn’t help but snigger along with him, admiring how pretty his boyfriend looked laughing at something so stupid. He wanted to look the sight forever. 

 

 

 “I love you.” Jaehyun mooched around in their home, grabbing Taeyong by the waist as he pulled him on the same, small uncomfortable couch they owned. Taeyong wrinkled his nose when he was plopped onto Jaehyun’s lap,

 

 “I love you too? You’re still not excused from cleaning the house today you fool.”

 

 “Darn, I thought it would work this time.” Jaehyun deflated on Taeyong’s shoulder, suddenly feeling lazier by the minute.

 

 But he stood up anyways, letting himself be dragged by Taeyong to clean the apartment. Of course, this would be the apartment they would raise  _their_  children in, he would make it sparkling clean just for them. Completely enamored with each other, sometimes they would both sometimes spritz each other with disinfectant spray while cleaning, even though it wasn’t very safe. It was some form of fun to them.

 

 

 Taeyong liked to experiment on Jaehyun. He’d gently hold Jaehyun’s kagune, caressing it before taking small pieces off of the brittle material for research. The younger allowed him to anyway.

 

 The human had told Jaehyun he wanted to bring ghouls out of hiding, wanting to help them live among his species and Jaehyun let the elder use him for research to contribute ideas to help ghouls. His current goal was creating synthesized food including the necessary nutrients for ghouls to consume instead of having to eat human flesh or live off coffee.

 

 His experiment never went farther than that. 

 

 

 “I’m breaking up with you, Jaehyun.” Taeyong’s voice was cold. His expression was stoic and he was not looking at Jaehyun. He had not even used the ghoul’s nickname. The younger’s bright face contorted into a confused expression. Four years. Four years of beings together with their five year anniversary coming up.

 

 “Are you joking Tae? This isn’t very funny.”

 

 “I’m not joking. I don’t love you Jaehyun, I could never love a monster like you. I’m leaving you.” Taeyong’s voice was like ice now. His tone sounded serious. Jaehyun’s lips pulled into a frown, his grip tightening on the velvet box he held behind his back. 

 

 Shaky eyes wandered to see suitcases packed up besides the man.

 

 Had Jaehyun ever known that he spent 5 years building a relationship with this human, thinking it would last forever. Thinking it would work out, they would raise their children together. Work through their issues  _together_. 

 

 Here Taeyong was. After 5 years, suddenly doubting their relationship. Between Taeyong’s paranoia that something would take Jaehyun away from him because of his status, and Taeyong was afraid of being alone without the angel he called Jaehyun. 

 

 He believed leaving Jaehyun now would be for the best, it was still early, he could do it before he’d start depending on him. Before Jaehyun would get tired of him first.

 

 “Why?” The ghoul cried, he was now on his knees, begging for the love of his life to give him another chance, to keep loving him, to continue to experiment on him and rip whatever made him a ghoul outside of him if it meant losing Taeyong. He didn’t want him to leave. He was in too deep to just let him walk out of his life like that.

 

 Taeyong did anyways, picking up his bag as his chest tightened hearing Jaehyun’s cries and the sound of the box he had held earlier smashing against the wall. Taeyong did not fear Jaehyun coming after him, knowing well that Jaehyun would not run after him and wallow in his own sadness instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 Jaehyun met Taeyong again. Not in the way he expected after 10 years of waiting. The boy he had loved for many years stood at the door of same apartment they had lived in together for years. He had tired lines creased into the corners of his eyes, his lips were pulled into a tight smile and his puppy-dog eyes looked sad. His youth was not even close to beginning to deteriorate balanced with the visible lines on his face. His chocolate hair hung boyishly across his doe eyes, it was no longer the firey-red Jaehyun grew to love. But he was still beautiful. 

 

 His eyes raked down Taeyong’s bony frame only to see a little boy holding his hand, hiding behind Taeyong’s large coat.

 

 It grew apparent in Jaehyuns mind finally that Taeyong, the love of his life, who he had always believed he would grow old with and have kids with, had a child. A child that was not Jaehyuns.

 

 “Jaehyun.”

 

  _Don’t speak to me with that voice_ , Jaehyun wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut as he stared at the child in front of him. 

 

 “Taeyong.” He tried so hard to not let his voice betray him, tried so hard not to let his sorrow show, “It’s nice to see you again.”

 

 “Likewise.” His soft eyes turned down to look at  _his_  child, whose only resemblance to Taeyong was his eyes. He bent down to reach the child’s height, “Hyuck, introduce yourself to Jaehyun, yeah?”

 

 The child seemed confused, not understanding why he needed to introduce himself to the unfamiliar man in front of him, but grinned up at both his father and the strange man who held glassy eyes,

 

 “Hi Jaehyun! My name’s Lee Donghyuck, I’m 5 years old and I like to read!” The little boy announced, proudly patting his chest, smiling up at Jaehyun then proceeding to stick his hand out at him. He had an obvious speech impediment, his L’s sounding like W’s when he spoke. Jaehyun, however, found it cute anyways.

 

 “Hello Donghyuck, my name is Jung Jaehyun. Nice to meet you.” He answered, reaching over and shaking Donghyuck’s small hand. Just like his father, he quickly grew to adore Donghyuck. 

 

 Jaehyun, much to his still confused state to why his ex was in front of him after so long, watched Taeyong’s expression grow serious,

 

 “Jaehyun, I’m sorry.” His voice sounded grave and Jaehyun just wanted to embrace him, “I’m sorry for ending things off like I did. I’m sorry for being so selfish.”

 

 “Taeyong..”

 

 “I know, you still love me. I  _know_ ,” Taeyong’s voice cracked instead, his eyes were watering as he handed a folded up letter to the younger, “Do you think you can grant me one last selfish request?”

 

 “Anything for you.” Jaehyun was weak and he knew it. He’d do anything for this human, even though he  _knew_  he was just like the rest of them— selfish and cruel on the inside. Yet he still loved him deeply.

 

 “Please take care of Donghyuck with your life,” Taeyong whispered, handing his child’s hand towards the ghoul’s shaking one. Jaehyun held the child’s hand tenderly, looking down at the confused little boy with hurt evident across his face.

 

 “I will.” He promised.  _He wouldn’t let this child become like his selfish and cruel father_. 

 

 With that, Taeyong bid his final goodbyes to his child, kissing his forehead softly then squeezing Jaehyun’s hand, as if he did not break Jaehyun’s heart all those years ago. He left. That was the final time Jaehyun would ever see Taeyong again. 

 

_‘Dear Jaehyunnie, (am I still allowed to call you that?) I know you feel hurt and betrayed looking at Donghyuck, knowing I left you all alone for all these years because of my own selfishness. I really thought you would run after me that day to stop me. **But you didn’t**. You were never a monster to me, Jae. I lied. It hurt me, seeing all the judgmental looks everyone gave us whenever we kissed because we were both men but also because one of us was not human. I thought running away from my problems, being with a woman, would fix me. But it made things worse.  _

_I cannot take care of Donghyuck because he wasn’t supposed to be born in the first place, he was not born out of love but resentment. He’s 5 years old, only recently I got ahold of him. I will not be around any longer for undisclosed reasons I don’t want to drag you into._

_Please treat him with care, you can hate me all you want, I know you won’t hurt him. Promise me you won’t. You’re the only person I trust with taking care of him. Please raise him to be better than I ever was, Jae. He deserves better._

_Through everything we’ve ever been through together, I still love you Jaehyun._

_Yours truly, Taeyong ‘_

 

 

 

 The first few days of Donghyuck being under Jaehyun’s care was difficult, Donghyuck kept asking where his father had gone and when he was going to come back. It took everything for Jaehyun to not tell Donghyuck his father was never coming back. He felt pity for the little boy, as he watched him recite the ABC’s in his living room on the couch where he had once laid with Donghyuck’s father. 

 

 Resentment towards himself was all Jaehyun would be thinking about. After 10 years. Thinking of how things would have been different if he had run after Taeyong that day.

 

 He gave Donghyuck one of the extra rooms in his apartment but the child would always go to Jaehyun’s room and sleep with him in Jaehyun’s bed instead.

 

 He never understood himself why he still lived in the same home Taeyong had left him alone in. Maybe something inside of him knew Taeyong would return one day. 

 

 It was also hard for Jaehyun to look at Donghyuck sometimes. He didn’t like being reminded of the fact that Taeyong had a child with someone else, especially since the child looked more like his mother than Taeyong. But it didn’t stop him from taking care of him with kindness. He always loved children, despite the fact that he could have never had any with Taeyong. Donghyuck was the closest thing to it. 

 

 “Dad.” Donghyuck said, a toothy grin formed upon his lips when Jaehyun looked up at him in surprise. They sat at the low, plastic table Jaehyun had bought to teach Donghyuck to read and write and sometimes color when he had free time. 

 

 They were currently coloring pages torn out from a coloring book Jaehyun had also bought the child when he had asked for it at the store. It’s been two weeks since he had Donghyuck under his care, Donghyuck had stopped asking questions, he stopped asking where Taeyong went and instead went quiet. Jaehyun grew worried, thinking Donghyuck would grow up mute because Jaehyun never gave him any answers to where his father had gone. 

 

 But here Donghyuck was, smiling up at Jaehyun with his front tooth missing after calling him ‘dad’.

 

 “Dad?” Jaehyun slowly said, the word sounding so foreign on his tongue. He thought he’d never see the day when he would be called someone’s father. Donghyuck nodded enthusiastically,

 

 “Mhm! You’re my other dad now. Since papa is gone and you’re here, I’ll call you dad!” His speech impediment was going to take time to get used to and understand but Jaehyun would teach him to get through it. The bright boy was already a fast learner. 

 

  _Just like his father_. 

 

 Donghyuck was 8 now. His speech was beginning to improve with Jaehyun’s encouragement and teachings, he could read at a 6th grade level and was able to ride a bike now.

 

 “Donghyuck don’t go too far! Just buy the peaches like I asked, alright?” Jaehyun called, his stomach grumbled as he watched the little boy bike off himself, towards the market. Donghyuck was smart, he memorized his neighborhood and knew not to talk to any strangers. Jaehyun knew this so he took it as time to distract Donghyuck as he went to go hunting.

 

 It was not very difficult to keep the child around and keep him busy when he went to go find something to eat. He hadn’t quite explained to Donghyuck what ghouls were, or that he was one himself. 

 

The human never asked questions anymore, knowing better than to ask Jaehyun why he never ate and why he only cooked enough for Donghyuck to eat. Actions spoke louder than words though, sometimes Jaehyun would wake up with an apple placed on his chest in the early mornings.

 

 Donghyuck would be outside watching the television as if he didn’t discreetly sneak into Jaehyun’s room to leave an apple for him to eat. Jaehyun would smile to himself as he begrudgingly ate the apple to satisfy the little boy watching eagerly, not before going to the toilet when Donghyuck was not looking and throwing up the bitter contents of the apple he had eaten.

 

 He’d sometimes imagine Donghyuck was actually his and Taeyong’s child when he watched the child’s eyes brighten when Jaehyun read him a bedtime story and nuzzled into the ghoul’s chest. Or when Donghyuck would wake him up to eat breakfast with him as he tugged on his sweatshirt. It warmed his heart whenever Donghyuck would call him ‘dad’ or tell him how much he loved him. 

 

 On snowy days Donghyuck would trip over his yellow boots a bit too large for his size, Jaehyun wanting to return them but the boy insisted on keeping them. Donghyuck wouldn’t cry when he’d fall face flat onto the cold snow, instead pulling away screaming with a toothy grin to scare Jaehyun to death. The man sighing in relief before grabbing the kid and scolding him then promptly hugging him tightly.

 

  They shared laughter only a few seconds afterwards when Donghyuck made a witty remark and Jaehyun couldn’t help but brush the child’s curls from his forehead and kiss it gently. 

 

 Donghyuck learned that day, Jaehyun truly cared for him and loved him. He’d always known, but he began to become more aware. Jaehyun no longer regretted not chasing after Taeyong. 

 

 The little human had made a friend by the name of Jaemin at 13, bringing him home excitedly as he declared the big-eyed brunette to be his best friend for life. His speech impediment was now gone, he still had chubby cheeks as he did when he was a child and began to grow friendlier. 

 

 Jaehyun ruffled both of their hairs, giving Donghyuck $12 to go and take Jaemin to the movie theatres and watch the sequel to Donghyuck’s favorite movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks. 

 

 

 It became a challenge as years passed for Donghyuck to be silent, trying not to be curious and prod at his father figure’s personal life or past. He had started asking more questions when he turned 16.

 

 “Dad,” He blurted out one night, he and Jaehyun were having a movie night like they usually did on Friday’s after Donghyuck came back from school tired after taking pop quizzes, “Why.. Don’t you ever eat? Like, do you eat by yourself and only watch me eat or what? I’ve seen you throw up every time I’d give you something..”

 

 No doubt in Jaehyun’s mind did he know Donghyuck had already learned what ghouls were. He’d caught a few books hidden under his bed when he was cleaning last month while Donghyuck was away on a field trip. Kids always spoke about ghouls at his school, wary eyes accusing each other of being a monster. 

 

 Jaehyun had realized he still hadn’t admitted the truth to him yet and now was the time. 

 

 “Donghyuck, ah..” Jaehyun paused the movie, sitting uncomfortably on the couch as the young boy’s eyes peered at him curiously, “I’m not really.. Human. I’m a ghoul.”

 

 “Oh.” Donghyuck blinked before grinning and throwing up a ‘hang loose’ gesture with his hand, “Cool.” He grabbed the remote from Jaehyun’s hand before stopping in his tracks, “Um.. I’m also gay.”

 

 “Oh.” Jaehyun repeated, slowly copying the gesture Donghyuck made with his hand earlier, “Cool?” 

 

 The human grinned and press ‘play’ on the movie, proceeding to burst out laughing at whatever part of the movie Jaehyun had missed because of how bewildered he was at how easy that conversation went. 

 

 

 “Dad. Dad. Dad.” Donghyuck said one day, leaning on the balls of his feet excitedly, “Do you wanna know what a ghoul’s favorite drink is?”

 

 Jaehyun stopped in his tracks. The ghoul could feel his hairs on the back of his neck sticking up. He  _knew_  this joke already. Taeyong had told him the same stupid pun when they had moved in together. Donghyuck noticed Jaehyun’s sudden look of forlorn, “Dad? What’s wrong?”

 

 “Ah..” Jaehyun sniffed, shaking his head, smiling bitterly, “Your father told me the same joke when..” He stopped, not wanting to speak any further, “You got the ‘bad pun gene’ from him, Hyuck.”

 

 

 Donghyuck had always been a happy child growing up, he’d never act out or give Jaehyun any problems, always listening obediently to the ghoul and being spoiled with whatever he wanted in return. Jaehyun knew he raised Donghyuck to be different from his father, but Taeyong passed Donghyuck down his stubbornness. 

 

 When Jaehyun had brought up his real father after years of never speaking a word about him, he was curious and determined to get something out of Jaehyun. 

 

 “Dad. Can you tell me what papa was like..” Donghyuck played with his fingers as if they were the most interesting things in the world, he had barely any memory of his father, not even remembering him how he looked like, “Before he left?”

 

  “He was.. kind,” Jaehyun answered, much to his surprise that an answer even escaped his lips. He rubbed his temples, sudden memories of he and Taeyong flashed before his eyes, “He had a brilliant smile, he looked like the most scary man in the world but when you’d speak to him he would act like such a kind man with a pure soul.”

 

 He smiled crookedly. He still spoke fondly of Taeyong after years. 

 

 “Why did he leave?” Donghyuck pressed further, knowing it would bother Jaehyun but he knew how to press his buttons, he knew he would say at least  _something_. 

 

 “I don’t know Donghyuck.” The ghoul said shortly.

 

 “What do you mean you don’t know?” The boy suddenly snapped, standing up from his chair abruptly. Jaehyun did not look at him, “Don’t you think I deserve some answers after being kept in the dark for so long-“

 

 “I  _said_. I. Don’t. Know. Donghyuck! Sit down and eat your waffles  _now_.” Jaehyun yelled sharply, his scleras manifested into black and his irises were an angry red. Donghyuck could see his reflection off of them. Gasping, he sat down quickly to finish his breakfast, not wanting to anger Jaehyun even more. 

 

 His kakugan was rarely ever shown to Donghyuck unless he was showing his kagune to him when he was curious, but never when he was angry. 

 

 Donghyuck knew not to ask anymore questions about his father anymore. They sat silently at the table, Donghyuck chewing at his soggy waffles with a hurt expression on his face. Jaehyun sighed, not wanting to put a dent in their relationship because of this, reached over and tapped on Donghyuck’s plate. The human looked up,

 

 “If you want to know what other ghoul jokes your father made I can tell you. I’m sure he’d like it if I passed them down to you.”

 

 Donghyuck immediately brightened up, nodding his head furiously and began to take notes.

 

 

 

 

 “Dad, would you have killed me even if you hadn’t promised papa you wouldn’t?” Donghyuck asked suddenly, his alphabet soup untouched as he looked at the ghoul across him sipping on his bitter coffee.

 

 Donghyuck was 18 now, working at a convenience store a couple of blocks away. He talked about his annoying but cute co-worker named Chenle sometimes. The boy was planning to move out in another year with Jaemin, declaring his independence from Jaehyun, who just chuckled at the boy when he had told him. His questions became more frequent these days, saying how he was an adult now and could handle the truth. 

 

 But no questions about Taeyong’s whereabouts or personal things about him were ever asked, knowing what happened the last time. 

 

 Jaehyun looked up from his cup, a soft smile spreading across his lips. There were smile lines formed along his cheeks and the sides of his eyes, he almost looked like a cheshire cat with his wrinkles. Jaehyun was growing older and there were streaks of white in his hair now. He was more mellow these days. 

 

 “Of course not, Donghyuck. I’m not as cold as most humans like to think ghouls are. I wouldn’t kill you even if it meant choosing my life or yours. You should know that by now.”

 

 Donghyuck stared at him, pursing his lips, questioning Jaehyun’s response,

 

 “Even if I looked like my mom and not papa?”

 

 “Of course, I could never resent you for something not in your control. I’ll always love you Donghyuck.”

 

 The human sat quiet, kicking his legs back and forth in thought. His lips then quirked into a smile mirroring Jaehyun's own as he shoved another spoonful of soup in his mouth. Though it tasted funny because Jaehyun  _still_  did not know how his own cooking tasted after years, Donghyuck was grateful anyways,

 

 “I love you too, dad.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 “Oh would you look at that?  _Taeyong’s_  little boyfriend.” A large figure cackled, the heel of his foot crunching into Jaehyun’s neck. Jaehyun did not flail, nor try to fight back, his eyes widening at the name. He was walking back home from grocery shopping until he was grabbed by a group of ghouls and thrown into a deserted alley near Donghyuck’s work. What did Taeyong have to do with a bunch of ghouls attacking him all at once? 

 

 The ghoul towered over him with a wicked grin, “Do you think you’d taste just as good as Taeyong did? Taeyong said he would never give up what he cared for after he didn’t pay up what he owed us. We killed his girl so he could keep the kid. You probably ate him by now anyways.”  _Crack_. “Taeyong tried to hide you from us for  _years_ , but that little shit failed.”

 

 Jaehyun felt his eyes watering, realizing what the burly ghoul meant. Taeyong had been eaten at the hands of these exact ghouls after he gave up Donghyuck to him. He asked these ghouls to kill Donghyuck’s mother, just to keep the child to himself promising to pay the price until it was too late.

 

 They had asked what meant the most to Taeyong at first and he blurted out Jaehyun’s name. He refused to give the ghouls Jaehyun’s location, sacrificing himself just to keep Jaehyun safe.

 

 Taeyong was  _truly_  selfish and cruel. 

 

 It seems they found Jaehyun though, seeing as if Taeyong’s death was not enough. But Jaehyun did not try to activate his kagune, he let the ghouls did as they want to him, too shocked to move. He could only silently apologize to Donghyuck, not wanting to think about what would happen when Donghyuck tried to visit his empty apartment and see he was no longer there. He ended up giving his life just to protect him. Jaehyun wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 He did not see Donghyuck’s hiding, shaking frame as he watched the horrific scene in front of him go down. Jaehyun just wept and wept, letting himself be devoured by the ghouls over him. 

 

  _The sounds of Jaehyun’s weeping stopped, the ghouls had finished their deed. They all stalked off, satisfied that they had finally found what the selfish human Taeyong had cared for._

 

  _Donghyuck was alone for the first time. Without Jaehyun._

 

 Yelling, Donghyuck woke up frantically, his breathing was uneven and his heart was racing, terrified from his own nightmare. He turned to look around him, only to find darkness and Mark’s body next to his, sleeping like a baby. 

 

 This was a recurring thing for him. Dreaming about Jaehyun’s death soon became common, learning to cope with it over the years. When Jaemin had moved in with him into Donghyuck’s old home,  _Jaehyun’s apartment_ , after Jaehyun’s death, he’d have constant night terrors about it and Jaemin would hear him, coming into his room and engulfing him in his arms to help him sleep. It caused Jaemin to worry more about him than he should. 

 

 He hadn’t been having the recurring nightmares since he met Mark. They started up again after Mark had scared him. Donghyuck wasn’t frightened of Mark himself, just the angry ghoul inside of him. His mind twisted reality with his nightmare in the moment. He confused himself in the moment to believe Mark was one of the ghouls who had murdered Jaehyun ready to capture him and he ran. 

 

 That night he dreamt about it again. Jaemin had found him curled up into a ball sobbing and hugged him back to sleep again like he had done many times before. Donghyuck was forever grateful to have a best friend like Jaemin. Now he had Mark, who hurriedly woken up from the rustling and screams of Donghyuck next to him.

 

 “Hyuck what’s wrong?” Mark cooed, immediately pulling a shaking Donghyuck into his arms. His hands brushed against the younger’s forehead, pushing aside his orange bangs covering his eyes. Donghyuck looked up at him, his lips quivering in fear before realizing it was Mark. His gaze softened, feeling at ease with Mark’s strong arms wrapped around him.

 

 “Bad dream.” He shortly answered before grabbing the back of Mark’s head, looking into his worried eyes before crashing his lips against the elders to kiss him. The kiss was rather slow and languid, Mark’s hands had reached up to cup the sides of Donghyuck’s hands as it became deeper. 

 

 Mark had made a surprised noise when he slightly opened his mouth and Donghyuck’s tongue slipped into his cavern. He could feel the little shit smirking into their kiss as their tongues moved in synch. Lips becoming swollen, they had cut their kiss short when Donghyuck had suddenly whined and Mark could  _not_  handle it any longer. It was 3 am for christ’s sake. 

 

 “God.” Donghyuck huffed, catching his breath and pecking Mark on the lips once more before falling back onto the bed and cuddling Mark’s waist, “Goodnight Ghoul Boy.”

 

 Mark silently wished him a goodnight back but however, he was not able to sleep thinking about Donghyuck’s lips for the rest of the night as he held the boy in his arms tightly. Hoping he was sleeping well and not experiencing another bad dream. But it seemed as if he was content, his breathing even as he smiled in his sleep hugging Mark.

 

 Mark watched him sleep, not even questioning why he had woken up to kiss him. The ghoul just sighed, threading his hands through Donghyuck’s hair for the rest of the night. Not being able to fall back asleep but staying up, wanting to protect the boy if he had another nightmare. He was truly whipped for Donghyuck.

 


	12. Chapter 12

 “Have you ever kissed anyone besides me?” Donghyuck asked, looking at Mark intently as he slurped up the strands of noodle from his ramen bowl. He sat in a hunched position, sitting on said ghoul’s bed and watching Mark read a novel, his legs up against the wall as he laid his head down on Donghyuck’s lap. Some of the broth from Donghyuck’s ramen splat onto Mark’s cheek. 

 Much to Mark’s annoyance, he shot a glare up at Donghyuck and answered him,

 “It doesn’t matter. Keep your ramen away from my book dude.”  

 “I’m just curious!” Donghyuck said between chewing, not looking very attractive with his cheeks filled with ramen and broth dripping down his lip. Especially as he spoke between mouthfuls of food. It  _should_  have been gross to Mark. But the boy looked cute doing anything. 

 Mark closed his book with a huff. He sat his head up from Donghyuck’s lap to lean against the wall now next to Donghyuck,

 “No. I haven’t. Never dated anyone so I never really got to kiss anyone. Except you.”

 “Not even Jeno?”

 “Definitely  _not_  Jeno!” Mark screeched, pushing Donghyuck’s arm even though the boy thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Like he thought of  _all_  his jokes. Donghyuck leaned in closer, though, scrunching his nose and grinning up at the elder.  _Oh not this_.

 “Do you want to kiss again?”

 “First of all,” Mark pushed Donghyuck’s face away with his palm, unbeknownst to the human that Mark was undeniably turning red, “You just ate ramen.  _Gross_. Second of all, how come I have to tell you if I locked lips with anyone before? What about you?”

 “I’ve kissed Jaemin before.”

 Mark chose to ignore that. And completely glossed over the slight tugging at his heart when Donghyuck had admitted to kissing his scaredy cat of a best friend. 

 “Well.. This is different,” Mark scoffed, crossing his arms and turning his face away when Donghyuck clung to his arm again, “You can’t just ask to kiss me. It’s awkward, boyfriends can like.. Kiss randomly, I think.”

 They hadn’t kissed since they confessed to each other or the night Donghyuck had his nightmare.

Donghyuck was a  _very_  touchy person, even if he liked the skinship and was easing into it. When Mark told Hansol he was dating Donghyuck finally, the half-ghoul was unsurprised. He already thought they were actually dating anyways despite Donghyuck clearly stating he was messing around before. Everyone else was unsurprised too, even Jaemin who was still apprehensive about everything.

 “Huhh? Why don’t you wanna give me a smooch first then, Mark? I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me again.” Donghyuck whined, “Am I ugly? Is that it? Oh  _woes me_ -“

 “I know you’re just doing this so I can give you attention!” Mark groaned, picking his book up in annoyance because he realized Donghyuck was teasing him like usual. He’d always bother Mark whenever his attention was on something other than him. His attempts of getting Mark’s attention were cute, he usually succeeded in the end and Mark would not let him win this time. 

 Donghyuck just continued holding onto Mark’s arm and cuddling into it, not whining or asking for anything. 

 It was a comfortable silence, no matter if Donghyuck had suggested ideas that made Mark want to bury himself 10 feet underground and scream, there still managed to be a pleasant air surrounding them. 

 Mark’s eyes trailed from the blurry words from the corner of his eyes to look down at the younger boy. Whose wide eyes were already looking back at him. Mark almost jumped, thinking he was being subtle about looking at the human besides him. But it seems Donghyuck was  _also_  caught. 

 “Oh. You caught me,” Donghyuck hummed. Mark felt his throat go dry as he gazed at the boy next to him. He felt his chest grow warm when locking eyes with the human. His cheeks blushed, he seemed to be glowing in Mark’s vision. Mark was compelled to come nearer to the boy, his breath uneven. Donghyuck followed his movement unconsciously. His eyes were lidded, peering into Mark’s own as the distance between their faces grew closer.

 The ghoul could practically feel Donghyuck’s warm breath against his lips at this point and it made him want to kiss him so badly with the look Donghyuck was giving him.

 “Is this okay?” Mark asked for conformation, biting his lip slightly as his eyes flickered from Donghyuck’s eyes to his parted lips. The human snorted, the mood totally ruined by Mark’s question. It was endearing nonetheless. 

 “Now who’s the one asking for confirmation. Just kiss me already you fool!” Donghyuck snickered before grabbing the ghoul by the shirt and pulling him down to press his lips against his. 

 

 They kissed for 10 seconds, Mark’s fingers finding themselves intertwined between Donghyuck’s pumpkin colored hair and Donghyuck’s clutching his shirt, getting deeper by the second. Donghyuck pulled away first, his nose still pressed against the elder’s as he started giggling to himself. Mark raised his eyebrows in confusion until Donghyuck reached over to pinch his cheek.

 

 “Next time don’t ask. Just do it whenever, I don’t care.”

 

 The younger grabbed Mark’s forgotten book, handing it to him then proceeded to wrap his arms around Mark’s waist, tucking his head under Mark’s neck. The elder just blinked, looking at the book before shrugging and wrapping his own arm around Donghyuck’s and opening his book again. 

 

 Mark thinks he could get used to this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for 300 kudos! sorry this chapters short :( there wont be any angst for the remainder of this fic, except for ch.14 but its nothing too dramatic–


	13. Chapter 13

  _Jealousy_. That was a new feeling for Mark, he’d never really been jealous of anything before. Maybe sometimes he’d feel envious Jeno had better sturdiness in his _koukaku_ that would curl around his arm like a drill rather than Mark’s _rinkaku_ that looked like tentacles and were very brittle compared to Jeno’s metallic kagune. He’d feel envious Jeno’s kagune had more defensive mechanisms than his.

 

 He had never gotten jealous over boys though. Not even when he had his slight crush on Renjun, it never really got to that point anyways. Currently, though, the newfound feeling was rising up in the pit of his stomach as he watched Donghyuck’s new co-worker, Hayoung, flirt shamelessly with him. He’d always lean in when talking to Donghyuck, his elbows touching his boyfriend’s on _purpose_. He’d always make Donghyuck giggle and it infuriated him to no end. 

 

 It wasn’t fully his fault that he felt the icky green monster called ‘ _Jealousy_ ’ rise up at times when Donghyuck blushed as Hayoung complimented him out of fucking _nowhere_ when Mark was around to visit the boy. Ghouls, it was in their nature to have such intense traits, _really_ , were very possessive of their territory and partners.

 

 Sometimes, instincts can confuse the two up and it would make said ghoul _slightly_ more possessive than the average person. As in, very close to lashing out in public and literally growling at whatever was nearing their partner. Jealousy would ultimately blind the ghoul of what was _really_ happening.

 

 “You okay?” Donghyuck asked, taking a sip of his box of apple juice, his tanned arms contrasting against the sandy colored counter as he leaned on it. Mark’s jaw tightened when he saw Hayoung appear from the corner, finished with restocking the Rice Krispies and donuts from the sweets isle. He smiled and waved at Donghyuck, the younger returning it with ease.

 

 The ghoul simply nodded, turning around to steal his attention away from Hayoung and pressing a big, fat smooch on Donghyuck’s cheek, making sure that _Hayoung_ would know Donghyuck was _his_ boyfriend. Maybe it’d teach him a thing or two to not flirt with a taken man. 

 

 “Bye. I’m leaving now.” 

 

 Donghyuck dropped his apple juice, watching his boyfriend promptly walk out the door after kissing him out of nowhere. Mark _never_ initiated their skinship. Donghyuck was taking a liking to it though, a dopey grin spread across his face the rest of his shift. _God_ Mark was such an awkward fucking dork and it never failed to make Donghyuck fall for him even more. 

 

 “Your boyfriend’s weird, Hyuck.” Hayoung commented one day, carrying a trolly with various soft drinks inside, Chenle following closely behind him with boxes of chips in his arms. Donghyuck looked up from the magazine he was reading, unaware of what Hayoung meant.

 

 “Huh? What do you mean? Mark’s always been a little weirdo.”

 

 “Nah he’s right!” Chenle agreed, his green head peeking out from behind the boxes, “Mark’s been weirder than usual lately. Haven’t you noticed?”

 

 Donghyuck shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, asking if he was supposed to know what they were talking about. Hayoung copied his movement, seriously wondering if Donghyuck really didn’t notice when his own partner was acting like a complete psycho,

 

 “Uh.. Yeah? Your boyfriend literally growled at me a few days ago. I don’t know if you heard while you were scanning the lady’s bananas but he legit growled at me because I reminded you where to scan on the bananas!” 

 

 Donghyuck turned red in embarrassment that day, he had seriously forgotten where to scan the bananas distracted by the fact that his boyfriend was visiting him at work.

 

 “Oh.” 

 

 “Yeah I saw that too. Have you noticed Mark’s always starting to kiss you first or hug you during work? Like, damn, I didn’t know Mark was that clingy.” Chenle pointed out, “He comes in to buy more coffee than I ever consume as an excuse. I literally start shaking after a few cups!”

 

 “I guess I never really noticed? How long has he been acting like this?” Donghyuck was stumped, since when did Mark do all those things? Had he been too busy being enamored with the ghoul, being too blinded by him to notice anything else? He was beginning to grow worried now, thinking Mark was acting weird because of something serious. He was going to have to confront Mark after work.

 

 “Ever since Hayoung was hired!” 

 

  _Oh_. Donghyuck suddenly burst out laughing. Hayoung and Chenle looked at him as if he was crazy and continued to slowly walk away from him to put the boxes of chips and soft drinks away. They guessed Donghyuck was just as weird as his own boyfriend and left him to his own devices. 

 

 Donghyuck had started laughing because he realized, Mark was _jealous_ of Hayoung _._ Donghyuck was not dense, he knew ghouls were very territorial about their hunting grounds or their partners. But he honestly didn’t think Mark would be the jealous type, close to not even believing his own theory that Mark would ever be jealous of Hayoung of all people. That boy was as straight as a wooden ruler and he was sure Mark could tell. 

 

  _I guess jealousy really blinds him_ , Donghyuck thought to himself as he rested his chin against his palm, staring at nothing as he continued to giggle over the thought of Mark being jealous. It was a rather cute concept to him. Even though he didn’t notice any of the things his two co-workers pointed out to him he couldn’t help but imagine it. 

 

 Donghyuck wanted to see Mark already and pinch his cheeks once he did because _oh_ the images of Mark growling were _so_ adorable to Donghyuck. The human can just imagine Mark looking like a puppy when he growled. His big owl eyes narrowed and a big pout forming on his lips. 

 

 Now Donghyuck _really_ wanted to see his silly boyfriend. If Mark was going to be clingier because of this Donghyuck should just take advantage while he could. 

 

 When he finished work, Mark was waiting for him outside, his hands behind his back pacing around the front of the store. Donghyuck held back from laughing, making a beeline for Mark’s hand only to drag him behind a tree and push him against the bark to privately kiss all over his face affectionately. 

 

 “Why did I hear from a green little bird that you were jealous instead of hearing it from you?” Donghyuck murmured teasingly, placing a final kiss on Mark’s parted lips. Mark froze, feeling Donghyuck grin against him. The human was seriously going to be the death of him one day. 

 

 “What! Psh. No. What?” Mark laughed nervously, tugging at the collar of his own shirt, “Me? Jealous? Nah.”

 

 Donghyuck visibly deflated.

 

 “Okay, okay! Don’t make that face, I hate it when you do that,” Mark grumbled, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment when Donghyuck continued smiling cheekily at him, “Yes. I was jealous. Happy?”

 

 “Of what?” The human snickered, obviously enjoying Mark’s pain. 

 

 “You sadist.” The ghoul cried, “I was jealous of you and Hayoung. He was always so close to you and it made me jealous, alright?”

 

 Mark wanted to wipe the oncoming stupid smirk off Donghyuck’s face already. It never came. Instead he was met with Donghyuck’s warm smile, he reached over to pinch Mark’s cheeks despite his whining that he would get acne if Donghyuck touched his face so much. His grip on his cheeks tightened as he made smooching noises towards the elder, cooing at him as if he was a baby.

 

 “You’re so cute Mark. You know you’re the only ghoul for me, right? Don’t be jealous, Hayoung’s just my friend.” Donghyuck let go, poking the taller ghoul’s nose instead. Mark huffed, rubbing his cheeks in annoyance before bending over and kissing Donghyuck’s forehead tenderly,

 

 “Okay. I won’t get jealous again.” 

 

 They held hands on the way to Donghyuck’s apartment, both of them being too shy to look at each other even after the numerous kisses they shared minutes before. The night felt romantic and sweet until Donghyuck had broken the spell.

 

 “I heard you growled. Do you mind showing me?” 

 

 “ _Fuck off Hyuck!_ ” Mark shrieked, pushing his boyfriend’s shoulder in annoyance. 

 

 Donghyuck could only think about how he loved his stupid, stupid ghoul boyfriend. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe i added hayoung from trcng in as a cameo because he and dh are friends irl and i didnt know who else to take his place hh


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw some uhh?? cannibalism mentions/actions. u can wait until the next fluffy chapter and not have to read this one this is more just to show idk dark sides of having this kinda relationship. its basically an idea inspired from nishiki/kimi’s arc in tg

 Like all relationships, they always had downsides to them and they were never perfect. It turns out, there were many flaws involving humans and ghouls being in a relationship together. Donghyuck never gave it any thought, he just liked being with Mark and getting to hug and kiss him like any other normal relationship. 

 

 Having a boyfriend as a ghoul isn’t all that bad. It’s the same as being friends despite all the kissing and (even more) hugging. At least Donghyuck thought so, Jaemin was very iffy about Donghyuck’s new relationship with Mark. Mark, no matter how much he adored Donghyuck, had also been iffy at first.

 It wasn’t rare for ghouls to have human partners vice-versa but most of the time the relationship would end on a messy note. Donghyuck trusted Mark though and didn’t like him any less because he had eaten some of his species. 

 If Donghyuck had said that to anyone else that wasn’t Jaemin or anyone from the Dream Café, he’d get a harsh look and probably would be called _insane_ for catching feelings for Mark. He didn’t care though, he’d happily rather have a boyfriend who could jump on top of buildings and have supernatural strength than some normal frat boy from school thats only power was being able to not get drunk after a few cups of alcohol. 

 

 Mark, however, was starting to lose some control at this point of their relationship. He thought he could make it through a few more months before giving in and going out hunting for freshly dead corpses of humans. But it wasn’t enough, the coffee and pig meat he’d have to live off of weren’t enough anymore. It had almost been 4 months since he’d last had a taste of human flesh. 

 

 He knew he had a lot of self control, he was naturally like that and wouldn’t give into his desires so easily. Hansol had taught him how to properly control his hunger. But thinking of Donghyuck, a human, and thinking about eating another human did not mix well with him. He had insecurities, thinking Donghyuck would get angry with him if he ever walked in on him tearing the flesh off a human. He thought Donghyuck would be horrified then leave him. 

 

 It was natural since he was a human and seeing someone rip into his own kind’s flesh would prove to be really uncomfortable. But Donghyuck understood, no matter what Mark thought, he was well aware of his boyfriend’s diet and would do anything to help him.

 

 Jeno had rushed into their shared apartment, alarming Mark that he wasn’t able to sneak into the morgues since it was so late out. Mark had hurried him earlier, saying he was craving it too bad to be outside or around Donghyuck who was in his bedroom playing on Mark’s Nintendo DS, unaware of his boyfriend’s situation.

 

 Mark was pacing in the living room when Jeno had left once again to go find an alternative method for both of them to eat. Mark could only temporarily hold his self control around Donghyuck and Jaemin, the only two humans he could stand being around during his weakest moment. 

 

 The pair of ghouls did not want to murder a human to eat, seeing as it wasn’t the right thing to do while they had befriended a couple of humans it felt wrong to them. 

 

 “Mark? What’s wrong?” Donghyuck called, the door was slightly open and he could hear Mark just _thinking_ all the way from where he sat playing Mario Kart. He put down the console, standing up and walking towards a pacing Mark. The ghoul ignored him but the younger wasn’t accepting it, pulling him by the arm and into his room. He shut the door lightly, leading the other (who was surprisingly complying) onto the bed. He crossed his legs, waiting for Mark to speak if he was comfortable. 

 

  _Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat._

 

 That was all that ran through Mark’s mind as he stared at his feet beneath him. He couldn’t bear to look at the human next to him, in fear of attacking him like Yuta had when he lost his self control all those months ago. Donghyuck had already been through enough.

 

 “Mark?” His sweet voice always calmed Mark down. But it caused Mark to start hyperventilating this time, his tone was _too_ sweet for Mark to handle. Donghyuck quickly took the elder’s hands in his own, worried and unsure of what to do, “Mark? Baby? What’s wrong?”

 

 “Food.” Mark blurted. Donghyuck raised his eyebrows, nodding slowly as he rubbed Mark’s knuckles to soothe him. 

 

 “You’re hungry? It’s okay-“

 

 “It’s not.” The ghoul barked, ripping his calloused hands away from the human’s soft ones.

 

 “Mark please-“

 

 “It’s only a matter of time before you leave me and your kindness runs out,” Mark heaved, it got harder and harder each time he looked at Donghyuck. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look at Donghyuck and only think of him as ‘food’. He was always going to be more than that. Yuta’s words about how Donghyuck would’ve tasted so sweet haunted him. “You’ll realize I’m a monster that only thinks of you as food when I get desperate and.. and..”

 

 “Mark..” Donghyuck weakly whispered his name again, reaching over across the bed to touch his shoulder. Mark flinched at the touch, his back immediately hitting the wall as he pushed himself farther away from the human. Donghyuck flashed him a look of hurt, his hand dropping to his sides.

 

 “Please leave..” Mark was starting to cry now, holding the sides of his head, needing to eat and losing his sanity over it. It was always a dreadful experience for ghouls when they were hungry. When they were desperate, they’d go through any lengths to eat what they could and Mark needed Donghyuck to leave before he lost it.

 

 “Mark,” Donghyuck repeated, scooting closer to the other who just wanted to rip through the walls and get as far away as possible from the human. Mark could barely look at Donghyuck, the pupil of his kakugan glowing bright red in hunger. 

 

 He watched as Donghyuck grabbed the hems of his sweatshirt before pulling it off completely. He threw the material aside, now crawling up to the ghoul and promptly sitting in front of him. He looked at the ghoul seriously, holding Mark’s shaking hand and guiding it onto his shoulder. 

 

 “Eat from me.”

 

 “Donghyuck are you an idiot?” Mark hissed, trying to snatch his hand away from the younger. The human still gripped it tightly,  

 

 “I am. So I’m letting you chew on my shoulder, now do it.”

 

 “Donghyuck you are _not_ food. You are my boyfriend, my friend,” Mark licked his lips tiredly. _The love of my life_. He didn’t say it but Donghyuck already knew, silently shaking his head.

 

 “And I know that. I trust you Mark. I truly do, so please, I don’t want you to go starving because of me. I signed up for this, I know what you have to go through. So please let me help you.” The human gave him a tight lipped smile, his grip loosening on Mark’s hand only to find itself on the elder’s hair instead, “Come on Ghoul Boy.”

 

 The ghoul was speechless. He didn’t say anything for a solid minute and only the sounds of Donghyuck and Mark’s labored breathing was heard. Mark pushed himself off the wall, looking Donghyuck in the eye as he leaned over hesitantly. The human looked down at Mark’s cowered stance, smiling at him and gazing into the ghoul’s blackened eyes as if to say ‘ _it’s okay_ ’.

 

 Mark licked his lips again, gulping. His eyes raked over Donghyuck’s bare torso. There were a few moles here there Mark wanted to kiss reassuringly but now wasn’t the time. He was nervous, he didn’t want to hurt Donghyuck too bad. Mark touched the younger’s warm shoulder with his cold hand, the human leaning into the touch. 

 

 He pressed his nose against Donghyuck’s neck experimentally, sniffing the human closely. He smelled sweet and it enticed Mark to hold him even closer, wrapping his arms around his naked waist. Donghyuck could only blush, 

 

 “Hurry up dumbass you’re so embarrassing.” Donghyuck laughed quietly even in such a serious situation. Of course he would help Mark in such a desperate time, he trusted him enough to just chew on him to help replenish his hunger. Mark slid his teeth along his neck and onto his shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the boy’s shoulder, muttering quick apologies before biting Donghyuck’s shoulder.

 

 Donghyuck gasped, Mark holding onto his arms tightly to help hold down the human from writhing in pain. The ghoul began to chew on the human’s shoulder, trying not to pierce his steel-like teeth through the flesh as he gnawed on it. 

 

 The human only let out a few sounds of pain, sharply inhaling when Mark accidentally bit harder than he should have. Though it hurt horribly to be teethed on Donghyuck thought it felt good to help his boyfriend in his time of need. He felt useful towards him since he believed he didn’t have very helpful qualities to help his boyfriend. Mark usually did so much to keep Donghyuck happy, the human just wanted to repay him.

 

 Once Mark felt like it was enough, he pulled away. Blood against his lips, licking it away. Guilt washed over him when he examined the deep bite marks on Donghyuck’s shoulder. He touched them, his heart wrenching when he heard Donghyuck’s sound of pain emitting from his lips for the nth time tonight. He was about to rush out more apologies until Donghyuck had stopped him, pressing two fingers to Mark’s lips,

 

 “Don’t feel bad Mark. I’m just glad I could help you.” Donghyuck bit his lip slightly, not sure if kissing Mark right now would be a good idea or not but he opted for something else when Mark still held the guilty kicked-puppy look on his face. 

 

 He leaned over and grabbed Mark’s arm, lightly nibbling on it with a playful grin, 

 

 “Look Mark, it’s okay. I’m eating from you too.”

 

 “Hyuck..” Mark sighed, carefully bringing his boyfriend in for a hug trying not to hurt his abused shoulder. 

 

 The ghoul held the boy in his arms lovingly. Donghyuck passed out soon afterwords, sleeping soundly in Mark’s arms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what u thinkk


	15. Chapter 15

 Donghyuck had now held a scar on his shoulder from where Mark had fed off him. It was light pink and it was looked like an obvious tear on his skin. Mark treated his wound that night while he slept. Jaemin had noticed the scar though, assuming the worst had happened. 

 

 Jaemin had angrily accused Mark of being just like any other ghoul, saying he was right all along for not trusting his relationship with Donghyuck. 

 

 When Mark had tried to visit Donghyuck the following day Jaemin stubbornly did not let Mark see Donghyuck, saying he would probably continue to eat Donghyuck even if he did stop before he went too far earlier. Mark was obviously hurt by these words, mulling over Jaemin’s words repeatedly in his head. 

 

Jeno had brought him some meat to eat at home, finally being able to get pieces from Hansol so Mark would not starve, only getting a small amount of energy from Donghyuck. 

 

 Donghyuck, still trying to defend Mark’s actions for chewing on his shoulder, told Jaemin he had let Mark do it. His best friend screamed into a pillow that day, going off on Donghyuck about the what ifs and what could have happened if Mark lost control. The younger retorted back saying he trusted Mark and he knew he wouldn’t hurt him but Jaemin _still_ refused to let Mark visit Donghyuck or leave him alone with him.

 

 It took almost two weeks for Donghyuck to finally see Mark in person again, Mark fumbling with having to use Facetime to talk to Donghyuck instead (he didn’t like it because he could not physically hold Donghyuck through the screen). 

 

 “What are you thinking about, angel?” Mark called out sweetly from the other side of the couch, making Donghyuck grin to himself. They were having a movie date, finally being alone without Jaemin’s hawk eyes on them. Donghyuck and Mark could have the apartment all to themselves, Jaemin on a date with Jeno.

 

 Jaemin was hesitant, of course, still traumatized from Donghyuck being almost eaten _twice_. But agreed, threatening to rip Mark’s face off if he had dared lay another tooth on Donghyuck again. Donghyuck was excited over the fact that Jaemin was going on a date with his crush much to Jaemin’s sour attitude with Mark.

 

 “Thinking about you.”

 

 Donghyuck hummed, his legs were splayed across on Mark’s lap as he laid back on the other side of the couch munching on popcorn. He suddenly felt a strong, scaled arm wrap around his waist when he had kicked Mark’s stomach gently. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused, _Mark’s arms didn’t feel this strong_. He looked down at whatever was holding him, only to find a red tendon wrapped around him. Donghyuck snorted, suddenly feeling himself pulled into Mark’s arms and popcorn flying everywhere. 

 

 “Really Mark?” Donghyuck laughed, trying to get out of Mark’s kagune’s grip but failing to do so as it pulled Donghyuck closer to his boyfriend. Donghyuck smacked the scaled tentacle, “You made a mess everywhere! You could have just grabbed me with your actual arms like a normal person.”

 

 “Well I’m not a normal person and I’m lazy so deal with it. I missed you.” Mark said, sticking his tongue out at a busy Donghyuck picking stray popcorn from the couch and popping them in his mouth. The tip of Mark’s kagune had poked Donghyuck’s stomach then slid up the hem of his shirt. The boy turned his head to Mark to look at him accusingly, about to curse him out until he felt himself burst out laughing.

 

 “You ass-!” Donghyuck screeched when Mark’s kagune had suddenly had a few new friends join the party. One of the tendons still holding Donghyuck who thrashed in Mark’s hold and the others sliding up Donghyuck’s shirt to tickle him mercilessly. Mark smirked down at his boyfriend,

 

 “Oh? Isn’t it _cool_ though? I can just sit back and tickle you without moving a muscle,” The ghoul cackled with his arms crossed as he mocked his boyfriend, promptly ignoring Donghyuck’s terrible attempt at a glare as he kept giggling from the tickling sensation on his stomach. 

 

 “F-Fuck you.. and your.. multiple tentacles.. y-you sicko!” Donghyuck cried between laughter when another tendon reached out to tickle under his chin. Curse his boyfriend’s kagune. He could’ve had just one, only _one_ tendon but it’s like the ghoul was born with multiple just to bother the shit out of Donghyuck when he felt like it.

 

 It’s always been Donghyuck teasing and riling up Mark up until now. Mark had the bright idea of getting back at Donghyuck and using his abilities to the fullest during their date after Donghyuck kept kicking his stomach playfully. He finally released his poor human boyfriend once he saw Donghyuck’s red face and slight tears coming out of the corner of his eyes. Mark saw Donghyuck wincing slightly when he had let go, grabbing his shoulder.

 

 “That was unfair play you sadist,” Donghyuck wheezed as he panted heavily trying to regain oxygen back in his lungs from being so mercilessly tickled. Mark could only chuckle, wrapping his actual arms around Donghyuck’s as a truce,

 

 “I’m sorry..” He said earnestly, not wanting to see his boyfriend in pain anymore, wanting to apologize more for accidentally hurting him, but he didn’t want to make it awkward since Donghyuck hated it, “.. If it makes you feel any better I stopped when I saw you almost start crying from laughing too hard.” 

 

 “Aw my sweet little Ghoul Boy, how considerate after your damn Nine-tails came out to attack me.” Donghyuck snickered, pulling him closer as he pressed his cheek against Mark’s own affectionately. 

 

 “What are Nine-tails?” Mark asked in confusion. Donghyuck just groaned, pulling away from Mark’s cheek to cuddle into his neck instead,

 

 “They’re some kinda fox spirit originated from Chinese mythology. But I learned it from Naruto.”

 

 “What’s Naruto?”

 

 “Mark, baby, turn the movie off we’re watching Naruto.” Donghyuck peeled himself away from Mark, grabbing the control and switching over to Netflix. The ghoul made grabby hands at Donghyuck to come back in his arms but the human was busy scrolling through the seasons to start at the beginning. 

 

 “Donghyuck.” Mark whined. Donghyuck giggled when he felt the familiar kagune poke at his side but he didn’t give in, smacking the tendon away. He pressed play and leaned back into the couch, smiling smugly at his pouting boyfriend.

 

 “Shh Mark! My boyfriend Sasuke is about to show up.” Donghyuck hissed, his eyes glued to the screen as he grabbed the forgotten popcorn bag with a few kernels left. Loud crunching noises of teeth chewing on hard kernels filled the room along with Mark’s whining for the human’s attention. 

 

 “But can Sasuke do this?” Mark huffed, his kagune grabbing Donghyuck’s sides once more, making the younger squeak. 

 

 “No but Sasuke can burn anything with one look using Amaterasu and can produce 8 shadow clones at once,” Donghyuck poked Mark’s nose when he stared at him incredulously, “Boop.”

 

 “You’re unbelievable.”

 

 “You’re getting jealous over an anime character, _baby_ ,” Donghyuck cooed, leaning into Mark and pinching his cheeks before placing his head under the elder’s chin comfortably. Mark sighed, retracting his kagune. He wrapped his arms around Donghyuck’s waist carefully this time, wrinkling his nose at the tufts of hair tickling his face. 

 

 “I like it when you call me pet names.” Mark said, 3 episodes in. Donghyuck grinned, stretching his neck up slightly to kiss under Mark’s chin,

 

 “Of course you do Ghoul Boy.” 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LISTEN. ive always wanted to write kagune cuddling and tickling with hidekans so,, oh my god im SORRY IF ITS WEIRD,,


	16. Chapter 16

 Donghyuck loves to make Mark feel good about himself. Whether it be complimenting him in general, or his ghoul parts that sometimes the ghoul would be insecure about around the human. Donghyuck could always care less. He still liked making the boy feel loved. 

 

 “Your eyes are _so_ pretty,” Donghyuck grinned, batting his eyelashes and grinning as he leaned towards the elder smugly. They sat across him in the café. It was Mark’s break and Donghyuck came over to bother him, dragging Jaemin along. 

 

 “I’m still right here please don’t make out in front of me,” The pink haired boy piped up, sitting next to the pair, obviously bored since Jeno wasn’t even working today. And Jaemin hated talking to Yuta because the man would always make some crude joke about eating him to scare him whilst Hansol was off making pastries in the kitchen unable to hear. 

 

 So Jaemin’s attempts to stop the couple from babying each other in public so he wouldn’t have to be embarrassed ended in vain. 

 

 Donghyuck continued to baby Mark in front of him, who was blushing profusely, telling him he can’t go around complimenting him like that because he _knows_ how red he gets from his compliments. He can’t be facing costumers as if he was stuck in a humid room all day before taking their orders. 

 

 “Alright come on, Hyuck, Mark’s break is over.” Jaemin sat up abruptly, the chair screeching behind him as he grabbed Donghyuck by the shoulders. Donghyuck protested as he was being dragged away from Mark, who was sitting there laughing at his helpless boyfriend being whisked away,

 

 “But Nana just let me give him a goodbye kiss!” 

 

 “You’ve done enough smooching while I had to sit there listening let’s go!”

 

 Donghyuck just pouted, opting to blow a kiss to Mark instead. Mark just shrugged and caught it with his hand, touching his cheek gently as he waved to a giggling Donghyuck.

 

 Yuta cackled and snapped at Mark’s butt with a towel. 

 

 

 

 Donghyuck and Mark’s relationship held a certain dynamic that they wouldn’t get with anyone else. It wasn’t unique but to them it shows how much they love each other with the actions they show. 

 

 For example, when Donghyuck can’t sleep, and it’s 3 am, he knows well that Mark would not be asleep at the time. He’d opt to call him sometimes, to listen to his voice to help him fall asleep. Or the ghoul would sometimes show up to Donghyuck’s house per the human’s request. Usually Mark texting him that he was there, sitting outside his windowsill like some sort of Spiderman instead of knocking on the door, not willing to risk waking the sleeping beauty named Jaemin. 

 

 “What did you call me over for, Hyuck? We could have facetimed or something.” Mark whispered, pulling off his mask as Donghyuck moved aside to let Mark in through the window. Donghyuck just smirked, still lively at such a late hour as he immediately bent over to grab an unfamiliar rectangular box from under his bed. 

 

 The ghoul sat on the bed, placing his mask on the nightstand and tilting his head in confusion. Donghyuck promptly placed the flat box in front of him with a sparkle in his eye,

 

 “Let’s play a board game.”

 

 ‘ _Candyland_ ,’ Mark snorted, ‘ _Typical Hyuck._ ”

 

 “It’s 3 am? Seriously? You don’t just wanna cuddle or something?” Mark asked incredulously, taking a seat across from Donghyuck on the floor as the boy started setting up the game regardless if Mark would join or not.

 

 “Yeah? I can’t sleep and canoodling with you won’t help. So we’re playing Candyland. Hope you don’t mind I pick the yellow gingerbread-man.” Donghyuck whispered, picking his piece as he placed it at the start. 

 

 The ghoul gave in, shrugging before picking the green gingerbread and letting Donghyuck go first to remove a top card from the stash. 

 

 

 

 Their spontaneous affection for each other didn’t stop at Mark coming over to Donghyuck’s house to play boardgames with him at 3 am. It was truly just either of them being so protective of each other, caring for each other strongly.

 

 Donghyuck loving to tease the ghoul, had caused him ultimately to sprain his leg at one point because he had tripped over his own _foot_. Mark, unlike Donghyuck, did not laugh but rather gasped in horror at the blustering red knee Donghyuck had. Grabbing the human and making him climb on top of his back to bring him back home to fix him up. 

 

 Mark had hoisted the boy up, Donghyuck’s legs hanging on either side of the ghoul as he held his legs tenderly. The human’s arms wrapped close to the latter’s shoulders and his chest flush against his back. 

 

 It wasn’t even _that_ bad. Donghyuck knew it but he still pretended as if it was the most painful thing ever just for Mark to spoil him like the big baby he was. He was pretty sure Mark probably knew as well but still decided to carry the boy around whenever he asked or when his legs got tired. 

 

 Donghyuck would always smile into Mark’s hair, leaning against it as the ghoul would carry him around whenever he didn’t even ask. It was rather cute to Donghyuck how Mark used his abilities to help the human. 

 

 “Can you cut the crusts off the sandwiches please?” Donghyuck asked when Mark presented his peanut butter sandwich he had asked for when Mark was in his Spoiling-Donghyuck-Mood. Mark could only furrow his eyebrows in confusion,

 

 “Why would you wanna cut those off? Aren’t those nutritious? You should eat healthy things to help you feel stronger.” Mark protested, sliding the plate closer to the human without taking his request. Donghyuck pouted, 

 

 “ _Mark_.” He whined, “I’m already strong.”

 

 “You tripped over yourself and hurt your _knee_.”

 

 “Details, details. Cut the crust, boy.” Donghyuck menacingly held both of his hands up, the stance of his fingers curling as if making a clawing motion. Mark knew exactly what that meant and he refused to let the human pinch his cheeks. 

 

 So he cut the crusts off the white-breaded sandwich and begrudgingly passed it onto the content human. 

 

 “Oh!” Donghyuck exclaimed, putting down the sandwich before it reached his mouth, “Look through the spoons and forks cabinet please and reach the closest cookie cutter, please.”

 

 Mark, much to his confusion, was endeared by his boyfriend’s persistence (and his threat of pinching his cheeks). He opened up the drawer to see that Donghyuck owned various types of cookie cutters, he never really took Donghyuck as the type to bake.

 

 His hand just grabbed whatever was closest and without looking he handed it to the human. He could hear the latter stifling his giggles and looked to see that he had chosen a heart-shaped cutter.

 

 “What a romanticist.” Donghyuck giggled, pressing the edges of the cutter against the middle of his sandwich. He held the newly-cut heart-shaped sandwich near Mark’s cheek and cackled, “Look. This represents my feelings for you.” 

 

 “Yeah, yeah just eat your sandwich before it dries and you start whining about it in three minutes.” Mark huffed, taking the sandwich from Donghyuck’s hands and promptly pressing the bread against the human’s lips.

 

 Donghyuck grinned, opening his mouth and taking a bite off the soft wheat with a knowing grin. He chewed on the piece, Mark patiently holding the sandwich in his hand,

 

 “You know you still have working, able hands right?” Mark muttered, watching as Donghyuck took another bite from his hands.

 

 “I don’t see you stopping me.”

 

 “You take advantage of my love for you.” The ghoul grumbled, watching the boy take the rest of the food and promptly shoving it in his mouth. His cheeks were filled and he looked like a chipmunk. Mark bit his lip to hold back a laugh from his boyfriend scrolling through his phone as he chewed with his puffed out cheeks. 

 

 “At least I know you love me.” 

 

 Donghyuck gulped down the remains of his bread and leaned over to sweetly press a kiss to Mark’s cheek, “But I, of course, love you more.”

 

 “As if!” Mark scoffed, crossing his arms and ready to argue with Donghyuck about who loved each other more. Donghyuck took the bait, crossing his arms as well,

 

 “Shut up, Mark! I love you more.”

 

 And so, they started bickering about who loved who more until Mark finally gave up when Donghyuck said ‘ _If you loved me you’d let me win._ ’ So he did. But not without saying he loved him more as he left Donghyuck’s apartment later on in the afternoon. He ran into Jaemin, who was holding groceries and glaring accusingly at Mark after causing him to drop his bags.

 

 So much for winning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what u think!! uh sorry i took longer than usual, got a cold and my brain was fried, next chapter focues on nomin<3


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the nomin chapter u were all waiting for

 You could say Jaemin was a scaredy cat. Ever since he was younger, his older sisters would tease Jaemin and spook him to the core until he starts crying. His parents would always scold his sisters and it’d make his sisters want to scare him  _more_. When he learned what ghouls were at age 8, he peed the bed and has had a hard time trying to befriend anyone, since 1 in 10 people (he looked it up) could be ghouls.  

 The only thing that scared him more than ghouls themselves was deep space. But he enjoyed learning about it more than he was scared of it, astronomy was always one of his favorite subjects in school. It was never a required subject, more like an extra curricular thing but he took it every year when he was in high school. It always made him feel at ease. 

 

 He met Donghyuck when they were both 13. The boy was .. unique to say in the least. He had a whole infatuation with ghouls and everything about them. Whilst Jaemin completely despised the thought of them. 

 

 For some reason it had made the two more compelled to be each other’s friends. Donghyuck being friends with practically everyone except mousy little Jaemin who did not like interacting with anyone but himself.

 

 Donghyuck had told Jaemin he had a cool backpack, it was a purple galaxy themed Jansport bag. Jaemin stared at him before hiding his backpack shyly, thanking him quietly. Donghyuck just grinned introduced himself, Jaemin introduced himself back and all Donghyuck could say back was,

 

 “Great! We are now friends! Meet me in the cafeteria during lunch

 

 Safe to say that their friendship lasted longer than Jaemin had expected since he was a very doubtful child. They were inseparable since then, though sometimes Jaemin wanted to step on Donghyuck’s toes for being insufferable at times he wouldn’t ask for anyone else as a best friend. Donghyuck was also his first kiss, vice versa as they both were fighting over the same boy they had a crush on when they were 16 and decided, _fuck it, if I can’t kiss him you can’t either_. 

 

 So then they gave each other their first kisses out of spite and sometimes the two would laugh at the memory. Jaemin pointed out that Donghyuck would always be a terrible kisser but Donghyuck just shoved him each time. 

 

 So Jaemin watched as Donghyuck grew up with him. He watched Donghyuck go through his first heartbreak, barging into his bedroom one day sobbing his eyes out because his boyfriend hated the fact that he was so weird and enjoyed learning about ghouls. Calling Donghyuck disgusting and ‘weird as fuck’( _The dude got a little talking to from Jaemin_ ). 

 

 Watched Donghyuck fall in love with a ghoul named Mark. Accidentally witnessing Donghyuck’s first time in the midst as he barged through the front door of their shared apartment and saw Mark with his shirt off under Donghyuck. Jaemin could only smile nervously before walking back out the door. But the worst of it all was witnessing Donghyuck have his first breakdown since his guardian Jaehyun died. 

 

 Before Donghyuck had ever met Mark, Donghyuck had a rough few years since his guardian died. He was close to Jaehyun, Jaemin knew it well. So when he told Jaemin that Jaehyun had been murdered by ghouls, he’d get nightmares every night about it when they moved in together finally. Jaemin had always been there to comfort Donghyuck, holding him tight as his friend cried into his shoulder. 

 

 Then when Mark came along, the nightmares slowly dissipated. Jaemin, even though he was slightly still afraid of Mark, was grateful for the ghoul coming into Donghyuck’s life. He had saved Donghyuck during their first meeting and if it weren’t for him Donghyuck wouldn’t be here cracking idiotic jokes that made Jaemin want to punch him. Jaemin had always been overly protective of his friend since Jaehyun’s death and even more wary of ghouls since then, but he grew to slowly accept Mark and his friends.

 

 Though Jaemin sat there with his sharp perceptive skills, looking at the events around him usually involving Donghyuck, he honestly didn’t have much going on for him. He was lived a stable life with his best friend, he grew up being a scaredy cat but slowly getting over his fears, drank coffees of death, and he was also, indeed, a hopeless romantic that could barely look cute boys in the eye. 

 

 And he also had a crush on a ghoul that was _way_ out of his league. 

 

 The first time Jaemin had laid eyes on Jeno he immediately was infatuated with him. Jeno was pouring his next order, his back facing Jaemin as he waited at the counter for his order to be taken. 

 

 Jeno turned around and Jaemin swore he could hear angels singing. Long face, a little bigger than average nose, beauty mark on his cheek, thin lips grinning and eyes folded into crescents as he greeted Jaemin. Jaemin felt his heart give out at the sight of a cute barista smiling at him. 

 

 He was sure he embarrassed himself grandly. He was stuttering as he said his order, embarrassed with his order as it was literally a drink of death. He was sure the boy was judging him for his order as he wrote it down on his notepad. 

 

 Yet he kept a neutral expression, listening carefully to Jaemin’s order to make sure he didn’t get it wrong. 

 

 When Jaemin had found out Jeno was not human he felt betrayed. He knew he wouldn’t put it past him, since he was working in a place full of ghouls. It was highly possible he was of their kind as well but Jaemin really didn’t want to go through a drama of dating a ghoul. He wasn’t even _that_ close to Jeno in the first place. 

 

 Jeno rarely gave him attention unless he was tagging along with Donghyuck. It kind of stung him to feel that way but he believed it was the truth, but he didn’t mind being in Donghyuck’s shadow. Donghyuck minded though, always trying to get Jaemin to open up to the ghouls and try to put it past him that they weren’t human. He was trying.

 

 Much to Jaemin’s obliviousness, Jeno had a mutually gigantic crush on Jaemin. Even before Jaemin had took first notice to him at the café. Since he and Donghyuck shared a class together back in school, he saw Jaemin for the first time as he gnawed on meat during lunch.

 

 The boy was beautiful, his smile blinding Jeno. He was laughing at something Donghyuck had said as he handed him a brown bag, presumably his lunch. Jeno deflated at the thought of Jaemin possibly being his classmate’s boyfriend, especially when he was clearly human. Jeno had tried to forget about him, he was just a cute boy he’d probably never see again.

 

 But he actually _did_ see him again. He was ecstatic on the inside, trying not to show how excited he was to see the boy again. Finding out his name was Jaemin, it fit him perfectly, it was a pretty name just as the human was. But he never really talked to him.

 

 He was shy. He didn’t really like talking to people or confronting them unless they were Mark or Renjun, his friends and co-workers, people he was comfortable with. So when Jaemin had been introduced to him when he met Donghyuck, Mark’s new friend, he could barely say ‘hi’ and missed Jaemin’s disappointment. 

 

 It was awkward between he and Jaemin. They didn’t talk much, they both were flustered every time they had spoken so much as a word to each other. Whenever they had to talk to each other one on one it was sometimes awkward. Jaemin could barely hold eye contact with him without playing with the hems of his shirt. Or sometimes they did talk well until they were interrupted and lost the easy air around them.

 

 Until Mark and Donghyuck had forced Jaemin to go on a date with Jeno despite the unbearable awkward tension they had with each other. They both had such obvious, disgusting crushes on each other but neither of them had the courage to really hold a good conversation with one another. 

 

 Jeno had taken Jaemin to a small Chinese restaurant near the café Jaemin had gone to a few times with Donghyuck when they craved dumplings. But not even the delicious wonton soup in front of him could calm down the nervous jitters as Jeno slurped on noodles with no shame.

 

 “Ah so.. Jeno..” Jaemin muttered, his cheeks immediately becoming red when Jeno’s eyes focused on him instead of the silverware he was holding. He froze in his seat when their eyes met. He could hear the faint sounds of piano playing in the background of the dimly lit restaurant that seemed to make Jeno shine brighter than he ever could. He looked breathtaking in this lighting and Jaemin really _really_ just wanted to hold his hand.

 

 “Mhm?” Jeno asked, wiping his lips with he napkin besides him cleanly and Jaemin tried his hardest not to stare at the brunette’s lips. Jaemin just sighed, his shoulders limping as he shoved a whole wonton in his mouth as he spoke,

 

 “Do you think aliens are real?”

 

 Jaemin internally panicked as that was _not_ was he meant to say. He was just going to ask if the noodles were good and if he should order some. _God please don’t let Jeno think he’s a complete freak_. But Jeno’s amused smile said otherwise,

 

 “Duh. I have arguments with Mark about this like every other night. Of course aliens exist!” Jeno seemed passionate about this and Jaemin’s eyes widened,

 

 “Oh good. I thought you’d call me a freak and throw your noodles at me or something.” Jaemin giggled and Jeno swore it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. Jeno felt his heart tighten when he opened his mouth,

 

 “Of course not. It’s not every day a cute boy shares the same opinion on aliens as I do.”

 

 The latter felt like he was about to pass out because _what the hell did his long time crush just call him cute and oh my god he believes in aliens he’s so fucking cute someone save me_. 

 

 That sparked up Jaemin’s confidence to say in the least as he started to speak more comfortably to Jeno. To the point he started rambling about the wonders of space, how amazing it was that you could see the planets at night and how if he ever met an alien and if abducting myths were true he’d sacrifice Donghyuck first. 

 

 And Jeno just sat there grinning at the boy across from him who blabbed on with a wide smile and a stars in his eyes as he went on long rants about the galaxy being beautifully ominous when Jeno believed Jaemin held the whole galaxy in in his eyes right there. 

 

 “What?” Jaemin piped, his eyes wide and his cheeks red as a tomato along with his mouth wide open. Jeno hadn’t realized he said that last part out loud and blushed himself,

 

 “Well.. I might as well own up to it. Your eyes get very starry-eyed when you talk about space.. It’s cute.”

 

 The boy merely flushed and let Jeno lead the conversations this time, meekly agreeing or smiling at what he would say. 

 

 Jaemin thought the night was going smoothly. Like seriously he had so much bad luck with boys he was sure Jeno was going to run away at the end of this dinner. And it seems his bad luck with boys had caught up to him once again when he saw Jeno’s face contort into a twisted, foul expression as if he ate something distasteful.

 

 “A-Are you okay?” Jaemin asked hurriedly as he witnessed Jeno cup his hand over his mouth and keel over, hearing the other’s stomach gargle loudly. The brunette just shook his head and immediately headed towards the bathroom. ‘ _Oh god,_ ’ Jaemin thought, ‘ _Were the noodles that bad or is my face that repulsive?_ ’

 

 Jaemin ran after the other boy with a worried face, his eyebrows knitted in confusion as the ghoul harshly knocked open the bathroom door. Jaemin had not entered if it wasn’t for the fact that he could clearly hear Jeno throwing up the contents of what they had eaten minutes before. 

 

 “Shit..” The human could clearly hear Jeno curse to himself and Jaemin slowly opened the door to find Jeno’s face looking wary. His kakugan was activated and it made Jaemin stop in his tracks. _Oh_. 

 

 Jaemin decided he was an idiot. He watched the other boy just smile up at him gently before standing up, brushing his jeans off and heading over to the sink to throughly wash his mouth of the vomit.

 

 “Jeno I am so sorry I didn’t..” Jaemin trailed off. The ghoul turned, shaking his head,

 

 “It’s okay you didn’t know. I thought I could get through the night eating human food and throwing it up after but.. Seems as if my system didn’t agree.”

 

 “Oh god, I seriously forgot you couldn’t eat human food and I just watched you eat instead of telling you you didn’t have to–“ Jaemin started to ramble nervously again, as if he had fucked up the date already and Jeno would hate him for making him eat repulsive food that was potentially dangerous to his immune system. 

 

 But he was stopped by Jeno’s long fingers sliding under his chin, making Jaemin look up at him.

 

 “Jaemin you really aren’t getting this are you?”

 

 “Huh?” Jaemin was clueless. He was entranced by Jeno’s dark eyes, his kakugan was already gone but Jaemin could see flecks of red left in the boy’s almond irises. He felt his breath hitch as Jeno’s face came closer to his.

 

 “I like you. In a I-Wanna-Hold-Your-Hands-And-Kiss-You kinda way, you know?”

 

 “I-Is that why you ate? Despite..” 

 

 Jeno nodded. He knew how Jaemin felt about ghouls. He knew how afraid he was of his kind, how he sometimes felt afraid of Jeno and his friends because of his species. He ate human food _for_ Jaemin, so the boy could forget the worries of their differences and see him as Jeno and not a ghoul. And it worked. He had forgotten Jeno was even a ghoul in the moment, that he was just an endearing boy with the cutest eye smile. He wasn’t thinking about whether or not Jeno was a human or ghoul, just his stupid grin. 

 

 Maybe Donghyuck was right. It didn’t matter if he was a ghoul, he’d still be the same person with the warm personality that Jaemin fell for no matter what. It seemed like Jeno voiced Jaemin’s thoughts as his lips were now a mere centimeter away from his,

 

 “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Nana.” If it were anyone else Jaemin would stomp on their toes and say that nickname was reserved for Donghyuck only but he liked the way it rolled off Jeno’s tongue naturally. 

 

 Jaemin gulped, biting his bottom lip shyly as he looked away from Jeno’s piercing gaze and at his lips instead. Causing him to grow even more embarrassed in the process.

 

 “I like you too Jeno. And I don’t think I care if you’re a ghoul or not.” 

 

 The ghoul smiled, obviously planning to lean in and kiss Jaemin but the other boy cut it short, placing a hand against his lips as he leaned his head back. Jaemin chuckled,

 

 “No offense but I honestly don’t want our first kiss to be in a Chinese restaurant’s bathroom.” Jeno just snorted behind Jaemin’s hand.

 

 “Fine by me, baby.” 

 

 Jaemin squeaked at the petname and pulled away his hand to cover his face but only for it to be caught by Jeno as he was tipped backwards for his lips to be caught in a kiss. Jaemin sighed, rolling his eyes before closing them and tilting his head to fit his mouth perfectly against Jeno’s like a puzzle piece. 

 

 He couldn’t complain about Jeno stealing their first kiss together in a bathroom now. He’d just have to deal with it and keep kissing him like no tomorrow until they ran out of breath. 

 

 When he had told Donghyuck he and Jeno were finally a thing, Donghyuck could barely hold his excitement as he jumped on him screaming his best friend was finally getting dicked down much to his protesting and embarrassment. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ee i went on twitter to see if anyone talked abt this fic and im lowkey sad some people stopped reading because of the cannibalism mentions in the last few chapters :-( again PLEASE do take caution in the tags, they are there for a reason if you ever feel uncomfy!! and the cannibalism thing was kind of inevitable when it comes to tokyo ghoul so again, please do take into consideration the tags :// but thank you to the people who are still here reading despite the weird cannibalism thing lol thank you for 400 kudos ♡ 
> 
> bbtw this fic is coming to an end v soon! please anticipate the final chapter ^^ ♡ leave a comment or smth!!!


	18. Chapter 18

 It was sunny outside, the birds were chirping, the air was crisp and Donghyuck was ready to have a good time out on a picnic date with Mark. Donghyuck had been distracted the past week and Mark just wanted to help him feel better. He brainstormed ideas to make his boyfriend feel at ease, to take his mind off of whatever was itching at his head and help him. Maybe even get Donghyuck confessing what was wrong but he wouldn’t push his luck. He only hoped for the best when Donghyuck agreed on the date despite the look of hesitation. 

 

 After countless begging towards Hansol from Mark to give him a day off when Donghyuck already asked his boss to give him the day off, the half-ghoul finally agreed. Mark had pulled puppy-eyes on him he learned from Donghyuck and of course, Hansol (uncomfortably) fell for them while Yuta glared at the younger in the background. Yuta had to take over Mark’s shift with reluctance as he was planning on getting spicy that day with Hansol, Hansol rolled his eyes and proceeded to shoo Mark out the door to meet his boyfriend. Then promptly declined Yuta’s offer to get spicy in the back. 

 

 “Hyuck slow down!” Mark huffed, Donghyuck was not as fast as Mark but Mark was shit at exercising and so was Donghyuck but the human was surprisingly fast when it came to running around in open space. Mark really wasn’t trying hard enough. 

 

 The luscious green fields filled with patches of colorful flowers were empty as Mark had brought Donghyuck to a more secluded place on purpose. That purpose being to annoy him with his kagune in a more spacious place rather than Mark’s couch because Jaemin was still freaked out by Mark’s kagune after so long. 

 

_‘You two assholes are going to rip my couch apart with Mark’s pointy ass limbs!’ Jaemin screeched, smacking Mark with a pillow continuously, ignoring the ghoul’s protests. Donghyuck sat back laughing at his boyfriend’s pain before Jaemin turned to glare at him and proceed to smack him too._  

 

 “Gotcha!” Mark exclaimed, jumping forward with his kagune and wrapping them around Donghyuck’s waist as the human squealed. He whined as he was dragged a few feet away from Mark and pressed up against his chest. Mark smiled in satisfaction, nuzzling their noses together despite Donghyuck’s protests,

 

 “You’re always using unfair tactics when we play tag, dude. I’m bringing Ten to electrocute you next time.” 

 

 Mark snickered in response and let one of his limbs touch Donghyuck’s chin, making him face up to pepper kisses all over his face. Donghyuck screeched, strings of ‘ _Gross! It’s slimy Mark!_ ’ falling from the human’s lips. Mark knew he liked it anyways as he continued kissing around his tan cheeks, every mole scattered across his neck and face. Donghyuck giggled once he finished on his lips. He let him go, before exclaiming,

 

 “You’re it!”

 

 “This is so unfair Mark what the hell!” Donghyuck ran after him, huffing at the unfair advantage he had against the fast ghoul ahead of him who teased him lovingly. Donghyuck hissed back at him as he accidentally tripped over his own foot and Mark quickly running over to check if he was okay. Donghyuck grinned at Mark’s outstretched hand and pulled Mark down along with him. 

 

 They both fell onto the grass soon after, Donghyuck breathing heavily as he looked at his boyfriend besides him. Mark was also catching his breath, his stamina all used up from using his kagune and running around with Donghyuck. The things he did for his human boyfriend. 

 

 Donghyuck rolled onto Mark, the ghoul groaning in annoyance. Donghyuck just giggled to himself, before grabbing the sides of Mark’s face. The ghoul looked at him questioningly until Donghyuck pressed a soft kiss against his lips,

 

 “I love you.”

 

 “Woah woah woah!” Mark exclaimed, gently pushing Donghyuck off of him before sitting up and pointing an accusing finger at the human, “You can’t just drag me down with you, climb on top of me and suddenly profess your love for me like that!” 

 

 “You don’t make the rules shithead. I love you and that’s that.” Donghyuck declared, sitting up and grabbing the sides of Mark’s cheeks and promptly squishing them lovingly, puckering his lips up at him, “You’re very cute, you know? There’s no other ghoul in the world like you. Heh.” 

 

 “Jesus what has gotten into you, enough with the puns.” Mark laughed, grabbing Donghyuck’s chubby face between his bigger hands as well, “I love you too. Cutie.” 

 

 They played around with each other, purposely annoying one another when they wanted to until a serious expression crossed Donghyuck’s face, his back pressed against the ground as Mark hovered over him after giving him some PG-13 kisses. He quickly noticed this and fell onto the grass beside him. 

 

 “Something wrong, Hyuck?” Mark asked, pressing kisses to the younger boy’s knuckles as the human pondered to himself deeply. He’d been doing it a lot recently, Mark noticed. He’d been asking every once in awhile as days passed by, Donghyuck distracted in his own world until Mark snapped him out of it. He hated to see his sunshine so upset but let him be and didn’t question further when he would shake his head, not wanting to talk about it.

 

 “I just keep thinking about Jaehyun these days, a few days ago marked 2 years since he died,” Donghyuck admitted, his droopy eyes growing sad, “I started remembering my time with him. I kinda realized he and my dad had a serious thing going for them when they were younger and it reminded me of our relationship.”

 

  _Ah so that’s why he’s been distant_ , Mark thought to himself. He lended his wisdom the the younger, hoping he would let out what’s been bothering him rather than bottling it up. They were honest with each other, even if it would accidentally hurt the other, they’d find a way to fix it together. The only time it’d actually hurt the other was when Donghyuck said Matcha Pocky was better than regular Pocky and Mark was hurt for a bit. Chocolate was a classic, his favorite and Donghyuck said it was too bland. Donghyuck kept batting on the flavor until Mark hissed at him that strawberry Pocky was the worst flavor. Donghyuck felt offended as it was his favorite flavor. They ignored each other for a whole two hours until Mark was craving for some cuddles. Then they apologized to each other quickly, though, as usual. 

 

 “Do you think any of what you’re going through these days are similar to your dad and Jaehyun’s own? Has Jaehyun ever told you anything before he left?” Mark asked aloud. He felt the boy next to him shake his head,

 

 “No. I just know it was all my dad’s fault and that they were serious for awhile until my dad pussied out. He sucks for abandoning me and I’d never abandon a child to _anyone_  and it’s his fault Jaehyun’s dead but I’ll have to forgive him at some point, you know? Just not today. You and Jaehyun, along with all the others, aren’t anything like humans make ghouls out to be, I’m not afraid of you guys.” Donghyuck answered, picking random pieces of grass and rolling them between his fingers, “I’m just scared of something else. I’ve never said this before but I’m actually pretty fucking scared we’ll end up like _them_. Having a tragic ending to our relationship. We aren’t really meant to be together, you know. Like Romeo and Juliet except one of us eats humans to live. What if the CCG find you and take you away from me?”

 

 What Taeyong always feared with Jaehyun was suddenly infecting Donghyuck’s own mindset. _Like father like son_ , he guesses.

 

 Mark did not respond right away. He was thinking in depth too. Picking apart the many responses he could give to help Donghyuck’s woes go away, just to make him happier in the moment. Because he didn’t like thinking about a future without Donghyuck, or even life without meeting this zealous human being. He wouldn’t have a perfect answer, perhaps a vague one instead if he thought about it.

 

 He would always remember the consequences of being with Donghyuck, Donghyuck knew it too. So many risks if either of them say something suspicious about ghouls or even relate ghouls in any way to the café or else the CCG would definitely investigate. It was a wonder how Hansol managed to keep the place running for so long without any suspicions. The CCG could capture Mark at any moment if any of them slipped up. Yet Mark and Donghyuck didn’t care. They never did. They trusted each other. They knew what they were getting themselves into and they were going to be careful. 

 

  _Maybe this is what Jaehyun and Taeyong lacked too late. Trust and confidence._ Mark finalized.

 

 “Hyuck, if you’re asking me honestly, I think we’ll be okay.” Mark sat up now, his shoulder touching Donghyuck’s own. He sat next to him, following his actions with ripping the grass under them apart in thought, “We don’t really know what happened between them. But I think Jaehyun and your dad had their own issues to work out besides the obvious species differences.

 

 We have our own.. _stuff_ to take care of but I think we resolve them very well. I can’t tell the future for sure. But I know for certain that I want you in it, no matter what. I’ve been hidden for years now and because you’re here, I know nothing bad will happen to me.” 

 

 “Huh. Didn’t know you were such a wise guy.” Donghyuck’s serious expression melted away very fast, obviously content with Mark’s words. He punched his shoulder, “You’re pretty alright Mark Lee. For a Ghoul Boy. Thanks for making me feel better. You wanna marry me or somethin’?”

 

 “Hyuck we haven’t even moved in together yet and we’ve only been together for like.. a year. Take it slow.” Mark laughed, the tense air had dissipated quickly. They were back to their regular comfortable flow that they created together. It was always like this, deep, serious talks about their feelings then suddenly they were back to making jokes as if nothing ever happened. They both liked it that way.

 

 “I already know what we should name our first child when we finally move in together and I leave Jaemin alone with Jeno. It will be a Shiba Inu named after Chenle, what do you think?” 

 

 “Um.. I think that sounds _lame_. I don’t think Renjun would appreciate you comparing his boyfriend to a dog, Hyuck.”

 

 “Okay how about we get a chihuahua named after Yuta? Do you think he’d try to bite his hand off on sight?”

 

 “Wouldn’t put it past him. _Everyone_ wants to bite Yuta’s hand off.” 

 

 The odd couple sat in the patch of grass, holding hands and watching the sun set across the orange hued sky as they discussed their plans for the future. The both of them looking forward to having each other there, knowing for sure they would last for a long time. Donghyuck dared to think forever because that was how much his heart fell deep in with Mark. 

 

 Mark didn’t end up pushing Donghyuck away after their first encounter like he had planned, not wanting to get closer to a human. Instead, he fell in love with his odd quirks and kindness. His heart wholly belonged to the human besides him cracking more puns he’d learned from the internet then proceeding to go on a rant about aliens and poking at Mark for not believing in them.

 

 “Hey. I’ll race you back to my place.” Donghyuck hummed, Mark raised his eyebrows at him and Donghyuck just winked— raising his hands up to give him finger guns. 

 

 “Alright. One, two—“ 

 

 He let Donghyuck take the lead as he sped off, Mark slowly jogging behind him and listening to his boyfriend’s melodious laughter echo around them. He watched him from behind to make sure he was safe as the ‘raced’. He was going to let Donghyuck win anyways.

 

 Donghyuck turned on his heel, running backwards and watched Mark give him a pointed look from behind. He stuck his tongue out and turned back around, running faster. Mark seemed to take this as a challenge and caught up to Donghyuck’s speed, grabbing him from behind and promptly carrying him bridal style towards Donghyuck’s place. Donghyuck could only laugh, feeling the cool air of the night promptly slap them in the face whilst Mark’s laughter mixed with his.

 

 Donghyuck’s persistent pursuing had ended up giving him a cute, yet awkward ghoul boyfriend to fall in love with and he, _they_ , wouldn’t have it any other way. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so much for reading this fic and sticking with it and thank you for nearly 500 kudos <33 im sorry if the ending seemed half-assed :( i was going to continue this ghoul journey in a johnten spinoff but i am working on my yuwin one shot series so aaa,, again thank you for everything ♡


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